Fifty Four Days
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. S4. It's been just them for fifty four days. Fifty four days of getting closer. Fifty four days of walking, still trying to find any of their family, still trying to not just survive. But to live. Fifty four days before Beth starts coughing and Daryl knows that he'll do anything to get them another fifty four days together.
1. Chapter 1

**I planned on working on updating _Weapons_ but I sat down to write and my muse took me in this other direction instead. I've been wanting to write a ZA Beth/Daryl story that turned away from Beth being taken. I know it's been told many times before but I wanted to try my hand at it. **

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xxx

 **Chapter One.**

He stepped from the woods first and she was about four steps behind him. Usually, they walked side by side or she was the one leading but over the past couple of days, he had stepped ahead of her to lead their way. He didn't ask why because he knew without her telling him. She was getting tired and sometimes, when she was sleeping curled up beside their low fire, she would have something of a coughing fit.

He hated the sound of her coughing. Without telling her, it scared the shit out of him.

They had come out beside a road – the asphalt cracked and faded from time and weather but it looked like it was a rarely traveled road laid to neglect even before the end. Daryl took a moment to look up one side and then down the other, making sure that they were alone. There was one walker rambling slowly down the side of the road, up ahead, but Daryl wasn't concerned with it. It hadn't even noticed them yet and they weren't staying still there. The walker wasn't going to catch up to them.

Beth came to stand beside him and she wasn't coughing but she was sniffling and he hated how pale she looked. Without a word, he pulled the red bandanna from his back pocket and held it over for her to take.

"Thanks," she said with a soft smile and took it, blowing her nose.

God, that didn't sound good either, Daryl thought to himself, unable to keep from frowning. He couldn't have Beth get sick but since she already was, he had to make sure he did anything to get her better. He couldn't let anything happen to her. Not her.

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded, folding the bandanna with great care as if it was something so much more fragile than just some dirty piece of fabric and slipped it into the front pocket of the jacket they had gotten for her a few days before.

They had reached that point with one another where they didn't have to talk all of the time but it wasn't tense and angry as it once was. They had reached a place of being comfortable with one another. Daryl wasn't too sure when it happened. Maybe after burning that house to the ground or maybe her playing songs and singing for him when they had spent the night in that funeral home. Or maybe it was just because it had been them – and just them – for the past fifty-four days. He knew it had been fifty-four days because Beth made a tally in her journal every night before going to sleep. Fifty-four days since the prison fell and since they had seen anyone else from their family.

Beth kept saying they were still alive – just like them, wandering around without a solid direction to go into – and Daryl didn't know if he actually believed that or not but he believed in her so if she wanted to still look, he would look with her.

Daryl took the first step into the road and Beth stepped with him, heading across the worn road and heading into the trees once again on the other side. He didn't pull ahead this time but rather, he kept his step in pace with hers. She was carrying their pack on her back today and she pulled at the straps as they walked. His crossbow was in his hands, loaded as always, ready to go in case any situation arose but the woods around them were quiet. Winter had settled and most of the animals were hibernating – which made keeping her fed a bit of a challenge but he had been able to manage as well as he could and she ate whatever he found without even scrunching her face up in disgust when he told her what it was. She didn't seem to mind snakes anymore.

He wondered how everyone else was doing; if they were warm enough and getting enough to eat. It had always been his job to kept them all fed and that was still his job. Keep her fed and keep her safe.

"Look," Beth broke through his thoughts in a quiet voice – keeping her voice quiet when they were in the woods like he had taught her. She pointed ahead and he instantly followed her finger to see what she saw.

A building. A house.

He almost sighed with relief. Even if the place was falling down, at least it was something and he'd be able to keep her from sleeping on the freezing forest floor that night. The days were shorter and the sun was already beginning to dip lower towards the western horizon line even though he felt as if they hadn't been walking that long at all today. That was good and bad in his opinion.

Good because with her getting sick – though neither of them had admitted that out loud, as if giving voice to it made it too real – they didn't have to walk for hours on end and she could rest up. But bad because they couldn't cover as much ground and it was cold. Always so damn cold and they were always hesitant to light fires, not wanting to have anyone see the smoke and see where they were.

As they got closer to the house, they saw that there were more. A whole neighborhood of them. One of those newer places with too big houses on too little patches of grass but seeing it, he swore that both of them exhaled a breath of relief.

"We should pick one of these," Beth spoke again. "Have our backs to the woods in case something happens and we have to run."

Daryl nodded, having been thinking the same thing. "Yeah," he nodded once. "We'll pick one and we'll get you settled and then I'll go through a few of 'em and see if I can find anythin'," he thought out and he knew Beth wasn't feeling good because she just nodded at the plan without argument.

She raised her arm up and coughed into the crook of her elbow, as if she didn't want to spread her germs around.

His throat felt dry and he did his best to swallow it down. If it turned out to be an alright spot, maybe they could stick around here for the next few days – let her take it easy. The houses looked nice enough and he didn't see that many walkers. Just a few rambling about but they could be taken care of easily enough and it's not as if he and Beth were ever loud enough to draw that much attention to themselves.

He needed her to get better. Not just because she was the only thing he had left – even though that was true. It was because she was Beth and what the hell would he do with himself without Beth? He couldn't tell her that though. They had had a few starts to having a conversation like that but in the end, he was never able to tell her anything of what was in his head. He told himself that he didn't have to; that she already knew. But deep down, he didn't know how she would because even he didn't know what was in his head. He had never had any thoughts like this before in his life and he didn't really understand any of them.

All he knew was that even thinking about anything happening to Beth made him just want to fall down to his knees and not get up again.

"Which one you thinkin'?" He asked.

Beth took a moment, studying the backs of the houses in front of them. "That one," she decided, pointing to a grey house with dark blue shutters and a matching dark blue back door. The backyard was fenced in with a low wood fence painted the same dark grey as the house and there was a tall oak tree with a little tree house built into it.

"A'right," he nodded in agreement.

The fence was good and the tree house could even be something better.

He waited until Beth pulled out her knife from the sheath hanging from her belt and Daryl then took the steps towards the house, hearing her right behind him. He found the back gate to the fence and he easily reached up over to the other side and slid the bolt lock out of place. The gate creaked on its hinges as he pushed it open but his eyes were sharp and he didn't see any walkers in the backyard.

He went in first and Beth followed close behind, shutting and locking the gate once more behind them.

The grass was tall, brushing against their knees as they took cautious steps towards the house. The back patio was brick with weeds sprouting through the cracks. There was lawn furniture, now knocked over and lying on its side, and a Weber grill still stood, waiting for its next barbecue.

They were both quiet and everything around them was quiet as Beth went up the creaky wooden back steps first to the back door. He came up behind her, crossbow aimed, as she knocked on the door with the hilt of her knife. She knocked again, louder, and her fingers curled around the doorknob, seeing if it would turn. It did. They waited a few minutes, both barely breathing as they waited for whatever walkers were inside to come towards them. He saw a shadow from inside, shuffling from the dimness of the room on the other side of the plate glass and he gave Beth a slow nod. She hurriedly opened the door and Daryl immediately fired a bolt, the walker dropping to the floor before it even had a chance to come even a step closer.

Daryl swept inside and Beth stepped in behind him, staying near the door, fingers wrapped around her knife's handle. He went to the walker and pulled the bolt from its head and they stood there, listening, making sure neither of them heard anything else.

"Think it's good," he noted and she nodded in agreement.

He bent down and began pushing the walker across the floor, towards the door, and Beth came to him to help and together, they pushed the walker out of the house. She looked away as it rolled heavily down the steps, landing onto the bricks of the patio. He shut the door once more and turned to see that Beth had stepped further into the room. A large kitchen with an island and cabinets and a heavy table that had been tilted over and pushed against the window.

Beth walked further into the kitchen and began opening cabinets to see if there was anything they could possibly eat and Daryl joined her, opening all of the cabinets and taking quick looks inside. Looked like they weren't the first people to be through here. But he found a few granola bars and he quickly snatched them up as if someone was right behind him, about to fight him for them. He turned towards Beth to see her at the pantry. She was standing on her toes, trying to get the can they could both see on the very top shelf, and Daryl came up behind her and easily grabbed it for her. He then handed it to her without even glancing at what it was.

Beth smiled a little and shook her head, turning her head to look up at him. "Thanks."

And she didn't look so tired and she didn't look as pale and her smile made his own lips want to twitch upwards into their own smile.

"Was it worth it?" He asks her gruffly.

She held up the can so he could see that it was Lima beans and she laughed as he couldn't help but grimace a little.

"No wonder it was left behind," he muttered and she laughed again.

But then the laugh turned into a cough and she turned her head into her elbow again and Daryl frowned, watching her and listening to her and his own chest began to hurt.

"A'right." He swung the crossbow back into one hand from where he had slung it over his shoulder. "'m goin' out to a few of the other houses. See if they got more stuff. You stay here and…rest," he finished lamely.

Beth's cough finished and she took out his bandanna from her pocket, wiping at her nose. "I'll stay here and check out the rest of the rooms."

Daryl hesitated even though he had no reason to. He knew Beth could take care of herself. The past fifty-four days of being with her and no one but her had showed him that enough times. But just because he could leave her to check out the rest of this house by herself didn't mean that he wanted to.

"You could wait until I got back…" he began to suggest and then let himself trail off.

"Or I could check out the rest of the rooms in here," Beth said again, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…" he took a step back and began rubbing the back of his neck. "Jus'… jus' don't overdo it. You need 'ta rest."

"You be careful," she replied and he noticed immediately that she didn't say that she would rest or not but he had learned something about Beth – almost immediately.

She could be a stubborn pain in the ass sometimes – a lot of the time – and if she wanted to check out this house without him and not take it easy, there wasn't much he could do about it that didn't mean tying her down.

He felt the tips of his ears turn red at that image but just as quick as it appeared in his head, it was gone again and he almost shook his head to make sure that it stayed out.

She walked with him down the hall towards the front door and she was the one to open it. It was already unlocked. After making sure the coast was clear, he stepped through but paused on the front porch, turning back around and looking at her.

"Lock this behind me and only open it when you know 's me and jus' me," he told her.

"I know, Daryl," Beth nodded.

And he knew that she knew but he still hesitated. In the past fifty-four days, he had hardly left her alone. They had hardly been separated because even if they were in different rooms, they were in the same vicinity and while he knew that she could handle herself, she was also sick at the moment and maybe she wouldn't be as quick as she was. He wished she would just lock the door and sit on the couch and wait for him.

It was as if she could read his mind because she reached out and put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back a step. "Go," she told him and she was smiling a little again. "You know the sooner you go, the sooner you get back."

He nodded once. Yeah, he knew. And once he was finally able to step from the porch, the whole damn thing would be easier.

"Go, Daryl," she said again and she was smiling as if he was so amusing to her.

And he just felt like an idiot.

Finally, he was able to turn around and he made sure he didn't look back at her. He heard the door shut quietly and then the turn of the lock behind him and he exhaled a deep breath that he hadn't even realized he had been holding.

xxx

He didn't go far. He just went to the house directly across the street and each house on either side next to the house they were in. People had already been through these houses, too, but he still grabbed what he could and what he thought might be useful. He made sure to grab a blanket he found crammed in the back of one closet and he grabbed an extra shirt and a cap that looked like they both could fit Beth. He had to make sure she stayed warm.

He found a pair of new laces for his boots in another house and while he was in the bedroom of what looked to once belong to a teenage boy, Daryl stopped before he could leave and dropped down to his knees, checking under the bed.

They had been in a house, scavenging, and Beth had mentioned that she always used to hide the best stuff in her room under the bed because no one thought to look there first. And she had been right. In that house, they had found a box of old Easter candy and they had feasted on Reese's peanut butter eggs for the afternoon.

There, under this bed, there were a few boxes, undisturbed, as if they had been waiting for him. Daryl grabbed them – he found they were three shoe-boxes – and pulled them out, setting them out on the bed. Flipping the first lid, it was nothing but nude magazines. He smirked a little to himself as he moved on to the next box. He smiled a little when he lifted that lid. Full bars of actual chocolate, packs of peanuts and something called Big League chewing gum. He had no idea what that was but it looked like bubble gum and he was pretty sure Beth would like that. And in the third box, he flipped the lid back and let out a low whistle. A couple packs of cigarettes and a couple of lighters along with a small can of air freshener. Kid was obviously trying to hide his nasty little habit from his folks.

He dumped everything from those two boxes into a pillowcase with everything else he had found so far and swung it over his shoulder as he stood up. He glanced towards the window. It was getting dark and he still had one more house to check. He didn't want to keep Beth alone for much longer.

There was a walker rambling towards him as he walked from one house and headed towards the other and he took care of it without even really breaking his stride. He looked towards what was "their" house for the night and he couldn't see any candlelight from inside. It was as dark as any of the houses on the street. Good. She was keeping herself hidden just like he showed her how to.

In the house next door, there were three walkers – two adults and one kid. A family.

He put down the two adults and took care of the kid walker last and even with as many walkers as he had already put down in the past couple of years, too many to even think about trying to count, the kids never got easier – not for any of them. But it had to be done and after it was done, Daryl didn't look towards it again and he stayed out of the living room where he had put it down.

He went into the back, into the kitchen, and immediately looked into the cabinets that were already open, not expecting to find much of anything. He went to the walk-in pantry and saw that the shelves were pretty empty but there were a few things remaining. Surprisingly. One random can of tomatoes that probably were far from being good anymore but Daryl grabbed it anyway. A box of Shake-and-Bake and Daryl imagined them using this the next time he caught them some meat and they could coat it in this and cook it over the fire. That actually sounded pretty damn good. This with the tomatoes – if they cook them long enough – could turn out to be a good feast for them.

He just had to get them some meat but he'd do it. If it meant Beth eating one good, filling meal, he'd hunt them clear out of the state if that's what he had to do.

Maybe that's why she was sick. Maybe she wasn't eating enough.

Daryl frowned at that. He had to do better.

After checking the rest of the house, he found that it didn't have much of anything else except a random pair of boxers lying on the bedroom floor and he snatched them up for himself before poking his head into the kid's bedroom. He couldn't imagine it to have anything they could use and poking his head under the bed, he saw that he had been right. He left it as quickly as he could, hating seeing all the toys and the little clothes. Maybe if they still had Lil' Asskicker… but Daryl wouldn't let his mind wander to thoughts of that little baby either. He tried not to think of any of them. Right now, it was just him and Beth and he had to keep himself focused on that and nothing else.

The sun was almost completely gone – the sky lingering in a dark blue before going completely black for the night – as Daryl crossed the small yard and driveway before heading up the steps of the front porch of their house. He tried the knob but it was still locked – as it should be. He knocked lightly, not wanting to make too much noise, and he waited a moment. He didn't hear her approaching from the other side even with his ears twitching, trying to catch sound of her.

He expected her to be looking through the peephole and he stood there, making sure that she could see that it was him in the fading light and just him.

After another moment, he heard the turn of the lock and then the door opened just wide enough for him to slip through. It was instantly closed and locked once more once he was inside. She was holding a small candle she had found and he looked at her, the small flame creating shadows dancing across the walls and he saw the circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted but at the same time, she smiled up at him.

"I have to show you something," she said with as much eagerness as she could muster despite looking like she was ready to just go to sleep for the next twenty hours and she took his hand, twining their fingers together like she did now any other time she grabbed hold of his hand and he followed her down the hallway back into the kitchen.

She had found some other candles in her search of the house and they were lit now, all placed carefully between the kitchen and the attached family room.

"I used to be obsessed with looking at houses and adding them to my dream house board on Pinterest," Beth began telling him and she looked at him and then she laughed a little because he could just imagine how his face looked to her. He had no idea about any of what she just said. "It used to be my favorite website. You could make different boards and pin pictures to each board. I'd spend hours on it."

He still didn't know what the hell she was talking about but it didn't really matter.

"Anyway, I've seen things in this kitchen before that were on Pinterest and I then remembered one in particular and I thought…" She then went towards the pantry. There was a bit of wall between the pantry and the refrigerator and he watched as she pushed on it. It popped open and he felt the breath catch in his throat. "It's just an extra cabinet for more storage."

He expected it to be Tupperware or something useless but then he reminded himself that Beth was too excited for it just to be Tupperware.

She pulled it open wider so it slid, easily, further out of the wall so he could see what it was. No wonder it was still there. He had no idea that a space of wall that looked nothing more than some extra wood paneling had been actually a cabinet and it was obvious that no one else who had come here before had known that either.

"It's been in a plastic container this whole time so no bugs," she smiled as she picked it up for him to see and he took a step towards her before he stopped; almost as if he was too afraid to approach any closer and find out that this wasn't real at all.

But then he looked at Beth and she kept looking at him and she was smiling and she still looked so tired but she looked happy, too. And finally, he closed the distance between them. She held out the plastic container filled with white rice for him to take and he did.

"We need to find 'nother bag to carry this in," he noted and she nodded in agreement. If anyone ever got wind of them having this, Daryl knew he'd have to kill to protect it.

People killed people nowadays for a lot less than nearly two pounds of rice.

"What did you find?" Beth asked.

He snorted. "Nothin' like this."

He thought of the things in the pillowcase and none of them seemed even important anymore compared to this. He looked to Beth once more and found that she was already looking at him, smiling a little.

Thank God for Beth Greene, he thought to himself. After fifty-four days, he had no problem admitting to himself that he'd have no idea what he'd do without her.

He wound up showing her what he got anyway.

They crossed a creek yesterday and managed to get their two plastic water bottles filled. They now boiled it down and then added some of it to the small pot of rice. Beth had already decided they would make a cup of it at a time – to ration it, of course, and make it last longer – and they held it over the flame of one of the candles to cook it. They also cooked the can of Lima beans and Daryl couldn't ever remember eating rice more delicious than this rice tonight.

After eating, they went to sit in the family room. They were quiet and everything was quiet around them and again, Daryl thought that this might be a good place to hole up in for the next few days – just until Beth got a bit more color back to her face.

There was a leather L-shape couch and Beth sat down and there was no hesitancy anymore about sitting down with her. Not after fifty-four days.

He dropped the pillowcase between them and Beth eagerly began sifting through it with a smile on her face as if it was her birthday. He wondered how old she probably was now. She pulled on the yellow knit hat he had found for her and he took the blanket and shaking it out, he leaned a little closer and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She had the same thought as he had once she saw the Shake-and-Bake. "Maybe squirrel meat or if we're able to find a rabbit…" she suggested and he nodded in agreement.

He always liked how easily she was able to say _we_ with everything.

"Daryl!" She gasped then, breaking through his thoughts and for a moment, he thought she had found the cigarettes and was excited for him for finding them but then he knew that Beth probably wouldn't care about that and looked over to see what it was that got her so happy. He didn't think he had been able to find anything _too_ incredible. Nothing like rice. And he thought again of how much he needed to keep having this girl around.

"This is probably the worst thing you could have found," she said with a little laugh in her voice and he watched as she peeled back the wrapped of one of the Hershey chocolate bars and broke off one of the pieces. "We'll have to make all of this last, too, or else, I'll be going through chocolate withdraw and you shouldn't have to witness that."

"Didn't go through anythin' like that after the farm," he said and took the piece of chocolate she held out to him. He would have remembered if the – then – quieter and youngest Greene daughter had been in something of a terrible mood. But that winter, before they found the prison, Daryl couldn't remember her even talking.

"We were a little distracted and we had other things to worry about. I didn't have a chance to go through chocolate withdraw," Beth smiled at that.

"And what?" Daryl smirked a little. "We ain't got anything to worry 'bout now?"

He was surprised at how quick and easy Beth was able to shake her head. "Not like before," she told him. "I think we're doing pretty well for ourselves."

And Daryl wanted to disagree with her. He knew that he should because yeah, they found a house tonight that seemed pretty secure and a container of rice and they wouldn't have to worry about food like they were just the day before but he sat with Beth on this couch, sharing a chocolate bar and he couldn't help but think the same as her. Things were looking pretty alright for the moment.

But then Beth turned her head then and began coughing into the crook of her elbow and he was reminded that no. There was still a ton of shit to worry about and it all began and ended with this girl beside him. He had to do something to help her before she got more and more sick and it would be too late. Daryl would let himself die first before he let anything happen to her.

It'd been fifty-four days and it had just been the two of them. Daryl would make sure that he and Beth got through another fifty-four.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much to everyone who read, commented, favorited and followed the first chapter. I never consider ZA stories to be my strong suit and I'm always willing to try my hand at it and make my confidence with it better. Like my other ZA stories, this isn't going to be action packed and will be a slow story between Daryl and Beth.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Two.**

When Beth's eyes fluttered open, she had no idea where she was and she took a moment for her fuzzy brain to focus on what were now her surroundings. She was lying down on a soft leather couch and there was a blanket covering her. Felt more like two blankets actually. And she then remembered the house she and Daryl had come into the day before – one of many in the small subdivision they had luckily come across.

She then noticed that the room was light and she could hear a lone bird singing in a tree outside. It was day. And Daryl hadn't woken her for her watch. She instantly frowned at that. She hated when he did that. He hadn't done it lately though. He seemed to realize that she could keep them safe as he took a few hours of sleep for himself but he hadn't woken her last night for her turn. He had just let her sleep all night. She couldn't even remember falling asleep. And where _was_ Daryl?

She tried to sit up but her head felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds and when she did try to lift it, the room around her began to spin. She had no choice but to lay it down once more again upon the leather couch cushion and burrow a little deeper beneath the blankets. Her eyes began to droop but she forced them to remain open and she tried to listen to the quietness around her. Things being quiet wasn't a bad thing – it was actually always welcome – but Beth didn't like it when she didn't know where Daryl was.

She had to find him. What if something happened to him? What would she do then? She couldn't imagine doing anything if she didn't have Daryl with her.

Beth forced herself to sit up and she wrapped the blankets tightly around herself. She was right. There were two. The one Daryl had brought back with him from one of the other houses and one that she had found – some silly pink fleece blanket with Disney princesses on it. She wondered when she had fallen asleep. Daryl had clearly been the one to cover her up with these.

After taking another moment, waiting for her head to stop spinning, she pushed herself up from the couch and stood up on unsteady legs. She couldn't help but sigh heavily. Why did she have to get sick? They didn't have time for her to get sick. They didn't have anything that could possibly help her get better. The whole thing was just an inconvenience and she knew even if he didn't say it, Daryl was probably pissed about this happening. And of course, she had to be the one to get sick. Just when Daryl was realizing that maybe she wasn't weak and a burden after all.

She exhaled a deep breath and finally felt like she could walk forward. The family room where they had stayed the night before and the kitchen were both empty and she heard no other sounds in the house.

It was so quiet. And it sounded as if outside was the same.

She knew they couldn't stay here. It was just a house with no kind of protection, just standing out here in the open with other houses of the same. She didn't know if there was a safe water source nearby but she doubted it. This subdivision seemed to be built in the middle of nothing, developed on a random plot in the woods and probably given one of those names that didn't have much meaning to anything around them.

Still, it was quiet and maybe they could stay here for another day. She hoped by tomorrow, her head would stop spinning and she would mention it to Daryl. Once she found him. But where the hell was he? Why would he just wander away without even waking her up to let her know? In all of this time being together, they've rarely been out of one another's sights.

She covered her mouth with her hand as she began to cough, harder and harder each time, and her throat ached and her eyes were watered by the time she was done and the room was spinning around her again. She felt her head spin and her eyes begin to slide shut and she expected to hit the ground at any second. But instead, she felt familiar strong arms lifting her up and she opened her eyes just enough to see that it was Daryl. He was back and he was carrying her back towards the couch.

"Where'd you go?" She asked him in a hoarse voice.

"Was explorin'. What the hell you think you're doin', gettin' up?" He growled at her but she knew his tone and she knew he wasn't angry.

"I went to find you," she told him as he laid her down gently and she couldn't help but be grateful to be off her feet and feel the softness of the couch beneath her once more.

There was a throw pillow and Beth's eyes were already closed and she felt Daryl's hands gentle on her head as he lifted it and guided the pillow beneath her. He covered her with the blankets once more, making sure all of her was covered and for the first time, she realized that her boots were off. Her feet were bare, too.

She forced her eyes open and she saw him above her, a slight frown on his lips and the faintest furrow between his brows as he kept straightening the blankets.

"My feet…" she began to say but that was really all she was able to say.

"'m gonna find you some socks," he said. "Your pair is damp. Why didn' you tell me?"

She shrugged. Or, at least she thought she did. It's what she wanted to do. It had rained a couple of days ago. Freezing rain that had soaked them both through before they were able to find a car on the road and take refuge in it before the weather passed. And they had both gotten wet. So why was she the only one sick?

"No wonder you got sick," Daryl said. "Gotta take care of your feet, Beth."

"Mmmm," she said and she felt herself drifting off again.

"There's a basement. 'm gonna go down there now that it's light out," she heard him saying and that made her eyes open and she reached out, snatching his hand, stopping him as if he was stepping away right then.

"Don't go down there alone," she said and she thought that his lips twitched in a smile.

"If there was somethin' down there, we would 'ave heard it a'ready," he told her and she knew he was right but she still didn't like the idea. "Jus' stay here. I'll be back."

Slowly, he pulled his hand back from hers. But not without giving it a squeeze. He then took her arm and put it back beneath the blankets. He hesitated for a moment and she looked up at him as he kept looking down at her. But he didn't say anything and she waited though she knew that he wouldn't.

After so much time together – and it being just the two of them – Beth liked to think that she had come to be able to read Daryl Dixon better than anyone else left alive in this world but right now, she had no idea what was going on in his head. His face was unreadable to her and she wondered if it was just because she was sick and her head was pounding and spinning all at the same time.

She wanted to say more to him but her eyes were closing and she couldn't keep them open anymore. She fell back asleep almost instantly but before she dropped off completely, she felt a faint brushing on her face for a moment but she wasn't sure what it was and she couldn't open her eyes again to see.

xxx

When her eyes began to flutter open once more, she, again, had lost all sense of time. It was still daylight outside and in the family room and she didn't know if it was still the same day or if she had slept all day and all night and it was now tomorrow.

Daryl was there, sitting on the floor near the couch, a hot pink Rubbermaid container in front of him and he was pulling stuff out and laying it out on the floor for sorting. She laid there for a few moments, watching him. He had taken off his vest and jacket and was wearing a plaid flannel shirt that he must have found because she didn't recognize it. His hair, growing longer with each day, it seemed, fell into his eyes and she wondered if he would want her to cut it if she asked. Not that she minded the longer hair. Short or long, it seemed to suit him.

They had been together for these past fifty-five days. At least, Beth thought it was still fifty-five. Had she slept so much that it was now fifty-six? And in fifty-five days, she had never really gotten a chance to just look at him. He was always so aware of her eyes on him and would always shift and growl at her to cut it out whenever she did look at him for too long, in his opinion. But right now, he thought she was still asleep and her brain did still feel as if it was half-asleep so maybe that's why he wasn't aware of her eyes right now. Beth wanted to take advantage of this rare moment and just look at him.

She wasn't sure when she began to think so but somewhere along the way, Daryl Dixon became very handsome to her. It wasn't in a way she was expecting. She used to go for guys that Maggie used to describe as pretty boys. Clean cut and smooth and very much boys in all sense of the word. And everything about Daryl was the complete opposite of that. She looked at him and was very aware of the fact that he was a man. _All_ man.

She wanted to look longer but her throat betrayed her and she began coughing. Daryl instantly turned his head to her and she heard him move for something as she closed her eyes and coughed for what felt like forever into her hand.

"Here," he said in his gruff voice but it was still gentle – she wasn't too sure how he managed that – and she opened her eyes to see he was holding a bottle of water.

She shook her head even though she desperately wanted it. "We have to save it."

"Stop," he said and kept holding the bottle towards her. "Found some more bottles."

"How? Where?" Beth had stopped coughing long enough to ask. She thought this entire neighborhood had been ransacked of pretty much everything except for the few things they had been able to find the day before.

He didn't answer at first and just held the bottle out for her to take and she finally did, sitting up just enough where she could sit up and take a few sips. But he kept crouching there next to the couch and staring at her and she finally took a longer guzzle. She tried not to think how wonderful it was and how tender her throat felt from all the coughing.

"Where?" She then asked again.

Daryl turned back towards the stuff on the floor that he had pulled from the Rubbermaid container. "There's a basement but there's a lil' crawlspace down there, too," he explained. "People seemed to have ignored the crawlspace."

Beth frowned at that. Why would they have left it alone? If people could do anything nowadays, it was scavenge and if they were good at it, they wouldn't have just left a crawlspace alone and untouched while ransacking the rest of the house.

She looked at him and noticed how he seemed to busy himself so he wouldn't have to look at her in return. She felt herself frowning. "How many walkers were in there?"

He shook his head but he answered anyway. "Two. I think they were the people who used to live here. Prob'ly hid in there when it all started and died in there. People must 'ave heard them scatching 'round in there and didn' wanna deal with 'em."

"That's stupid," Beth said and he snorted a little in amused agreement. "They probably just thought there was nothing in there except Christmas decorations."

"Yeah, there were plenty of those in there," he agreed and she smiled a little. "But there was other stuff, too."

Beth took another sip of water and began to sit up but Daryl stared at her, telling her silently to lie back down, and normally, Beth would have stubbornly refused and reminded him that she did what she wanted but right now, she had to admit that he was right. Her head was still spinning and heavy and it felt good to keep lying down.

"Like what?" She asked once she had arranged herself beneath the blankets once more and she propped her head up a bit more against the throw pillow beneath her.

"You know what the hell this is?" He asked her and held out a can for her to take.

She did and smiled a little when she saw it. "It's filled with dirt and comes with seeds and you can grow tomatoes right in the can," she explained to him. "Maggie went off to live in Atlanta for a while and she grew basil this way in her apartment."

"You think 's still good?" Daryl took the can back from her and looked it over again. "There's two more of 'em."

"No harm in trying. I miss tomatoes," she said.

He nodded at that and set the can aside. "'m gonna go to a few of the other houses in a lil' bit," he said.

"Why?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"We might be havin' to find a different house," Daryl said with a shrug. "Some of 'em 'round here, I noticed, have a fenced in backyard and front yard, too. Figure that we'll be stayin' 'round here for a while and havin' a fence on all sides ain't a bad idea."

"We're going to stay? I'm feeling better," she then told him but Daryl just looked over to her and it was obvious that he didn't believe her. And with good reason, she admitted to herself. She really didn't feel that much better at all. She was sure tomorrow, she would.

"'s quiet here. A bit out of the way," Daryl said as he continued sorting through the Rubbermaid container. "Ain't lookin' to be a bad place to stay for a while."

Beth hated to admit it and she wouldn't to him but she found herself feeling a little relieved at that. It _was_ quiet here and they had been walking for so long, just the thought of stopping for a little bit felt like the best idea she had ever heard. She didn't want to just stop looking for their family still out there, but taking a little bit, and gathering their own strength again, there possibly couldn't be a harm in doing that.

"Try these on," he said and pulled out a pair of moccasin skin slippers but before she could take them and sit up, Daryl was already moving back towards the couch.

He pulled the blankets away from her bare feet and he gently placed the slippers on them. She couldn't help but immediately think of Cinderella. She wondered if Daryl knew the story. He probably didn't. There was so much that Daryl had never experienced that other children had. Maybe she could tell him about it one of these days. Cinderella had always been one of her favorites.

"How they feel?" He asked.

She nodded and instantly curled her toes into the warm fleece interior. "So nice."

They were just a little tight but she could have cared less about that because it was just by a little. They were warm and dry and her feet were already warming up and when was the last time she had worn actual slippers? She'd stretch them out.

Daryl's hands lingered over her feet and then he gave her ankle a gentle squeeze and she gave him a soft smile and she saw the tips of his ears poking through his hair turning red as he covered her feet with the blankets once more.

"I'm sorry for getting sick," Beth then heard herself say as he moved away from her and back towards the container.

"Got nothin' to be sorry for," he shook his head, looking away from her. "We jus' gotta make sure you're takin' care of yourself."

"You, too," she said, watching him, and he paused for a moment and she waited for him to look at her but he didn't. Instead, he looked back into the container and pulled out something else.

"You eat this stuff?" He asked, turning towards her and holding up a box.

"Oh, yes," she nodded and he smiled a little, holding it out for her to take. "Don't you?"

"I ain't a horse," he said, turning back towards the container, and she rolled her eyes before sitting up a little and broke the seal of the unopened box of granola.

"Man can't live on squirrel alone," she said as she gathered a handful and guided it to her mouth. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she swallowed the first bite.

She heard Daryl snort softly at that and she smiled, watching as he unpacked the rest of the container. If they used everything just right, it could last them a while. Random food items – all passed expiration but Beth had learned that the dates were more of like a guideline and things stayed fine past that particular black date stamped on everything. Another blanket. A solar-powered lantern – which Daryl had put in the window to charge. The "grow your own tomatoes in a can" cans. A random deck of cards. And a few bottles of water. Those were the most important thing and she wondered where they would have to go to get more once all of those were empty.

Beth took two more fistfuls of granola before she folded the bag down and closed the box. She took another swig of water and then laid down once more, still watching Daryl, her eyes feeling as if they were growing heavy, ready for some more sleep.

There was one more thing in the container and he pulled it out, it shaking in his hand as he did. He looked it over for a moment and then exhaled a deep breath that let her know that he was disappointed with whatever he had found. Disappointed and pissed off. But before she could ask him what it was, he twisted the cap off and came back to the couch. She saw that it was a bottle of aspirin.

"It ain't gonna do shit but no harm in tryin'," he said, echoing her earlier words.

She nodded in agreement and sat up a little as he poured three tablets out from the bottle and dropped them into her palm. He watched as she swallowed them down and he sighed again, looking back towards the bottle.

"Keep drinkin' water and keep restin'. Don't think you can do much more than that," he said though his voice sounded rough, as if he was angry once again about the whole thing. And Beth almost apologized again for getting sick but she clamped her mouth shut and stayed quiet.

Something inside of her told her that he may have been angry but not at her. At least, that's what she hoped for because while although she could read Daryl, there was still so much of him that she could never seem to decipher and just had to guess at a lot of it a lot of the time.

"I'm gonna go look at some of the other houses. See if one of 'em is better than this," he said and she couldn't think to do anything except nod. She watched as he picked up his crossbow from where it had been resting on the coffee table they had pushed away the night before to open up more space on the floor and he made sure he had his knives though he never took them off to lose them.

"Be careful," she said.

"'s quiet out there," he pointed out to her.

"Be careful," she said again and couldn't believe he would actually use that as any kind of excuse. Just because something seemed quiet or looked safe didn't mean it was that – at all – and Daryl, like her, knew that well enough.

He gave his head a nod and stood there, looking down at her as he had done earlier.

"Are we really going to stay?" She then asked, her throat feeling dry and scratching and she let out a cough to try and ease it.

"For a while," Daryl said. "Might be good to just hang around for a while."

She gave him a small smile. "I'll start feeling better tomorrow," she then said and she made sure that it sounded like a promise because that was her intent. She had to start feeling better and if they were going to stay here a while, she needed to help him making this a safe place for both of them and she had to pull her own weight again.

And he nodded his head – either believing her or placating her and with Daryl, it was probably a mixture of both.

"I'll be back in a lil' bit," he said but he still lingered beside the couch and she looked up at him. waiting for him to say something more.

But he kept quiet and she finally just gave him a small smile – a wordless promise that she'd be alright here without him for a little bit. "I'm going to take another nap," she said and he nodded, seeming relieved at that; as if he thought she would try to get up and start cleaning the entire house.

"How are you feelin'? Really?" He asked her in a low voice.

And she saw no reason to lie to him. Not to him. They had been together for so many days now that even if she was to lie, he'd be able to see right through it.

"I'm really dizzy and my head hurts," she answered.

He visibly swallowed at that and gave his head a nod. "I won't be gone long," he said and it wasn't what she thought he would say but then she realized that she didn't really know what she was expecting otherwise.

She nodded and her eyes began to droop once again and she could feel that sleep was already rushing up to meet her and she didn't even hear him leave.

xxx

By the time the sun began to dip down in the sky and the room glowed a bright yellow with the setting sun, the back of the house facing west, Beth felt that she was able to sit up a bit more. So she did. She moved the pillow against the arm of the couch and propped herself against it so she was sitting up but her head was still resting on it.

Daryl hadn't been gone long – at least she hadn't think he had – just as he had promised. He had found another blanket so she now had three covering her. He tried to give her the one from the container but she had refused, telling him that he needed one, too, and honestly, she was feeling almost too warm now but she was so used to being cold from winter having settled in over the past couple of weeks, she was grateful to just not be shivering for once.

They made another cup of rice for dinner and they had a granola bar each and once they were done eating, she settled back against the pillow and watched as he began sharpening their knives.

"Think it could be a good place," Daryl was telling her about a house he had found that afternoon – just a few up from where they were now. "Back's still facin' the woods so we can get out quick if we need to. Back and front are both fenced in. It's one of 'em ranch houses so there's not much space we have to keep track off."

"Sounds good," she agreed with a smile, watching him.

Over the past fifty-five days, Daryl had started talking more. She wondered if anyone else had heard him say so much at once and her mind lingered over to Rick and Carol for a minute. Daryl had always been closest to them and Daryl had even broken down at the thought of never seeing Rick again. And she couldn't help but wonder how it would be _when_ they found them all again. She wondered if Daryl would keep talking like this around her or once he was back with Rick and Carol, he wouldn't be around her much.

That wasn't something she wanted to keep thinking of though. It had been just them for the past fifty-five days and despite the initial bumps they went through, getting used to one another, Beth knew that they were definitely used to one another now. She couldn't imagine not being around him – even after they finally found their family once more. As lame as it probably sounded, Daryl was the closest friend she had ever had and she couldn't imagine him just not being around anymore.

His back was up against the couch as he sat on the floor and before she could stop herself, Beth lifted a hand to the back of his head, touching the hair at the nape of his neck. He, unsurprisingly, immediately tensed up from the touch and she told herself to pull her hand away but she couldn't seem to bring herself to. He was warm. She wasn't sure why she wasn't expecting him to be. Of course Daryl would be warm. It made sense for him to be nothing else. Warm and his skin was slightly rough and very dirty. She couldn't remember the last time either of them had bathed.

"Your hair's getting really long," she noted in a quiet voice, her hand still on him.

But now, she had noticed that he wasn't as tense as he was just a second ago. With each passing breath, he seemed to be relaxing more and more and she smiled to herself, glad that he was facing away from her so he couldn't see. She didn't know why she had touched him just now and she didn't know why she couldn't seem to stop but as long as he didn't seem to mind it, she found that she certainly didn't mind either.

She had noticed that he had been touching her a lot more lately, too. She wondered if he noticed he was doing it more of it was all subconscious. She didn't dare point it out to him. He would probably stop if he was aware of it and knew that she was, too.

"Wanna cut it?" He asked and his voice sounded so rough to her but not angry. Rough in a way that it almost made her shiver but with the three blankets and him so close to her, there was no way she could possibly be cold.

"Tomorrow," she said, smiling that he would be the one to suggest it and her hand slowly began falling away though she didn't want it to. "When I'm feeling better."

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know many have been asking and yes, eventually, Beth and Daryl will get to Alexandria but for the moment, I'm liking it being just them for a while. Thank you so much for the support and encouragement you have been showing both this story and me!**

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xxx

 **Chapter Three.**

She wasn't feeling better though the next day. Daryl could tell.

He had slept on the floor right next to the couch and during the night, he listened to her tossing and turning and coughing or breathing through her mouth because her nose was too plugged. He had managed to get a couple of hours of sleep but for the rest of the time, he laid there and listened to her and tried to think of something he could do. He didn't know if there was anything to do though. He wasn't a doctor. He wasn't Hershel or Bob and he didn't know of any kind of medicine besides aspirin, and that obviously hadn't done shit for her. He knew he needed to think of something. He couldn't just let her get sicker.

When dawn broke and the birds began chirping in the trees outside, he had sat up and looked at her. She was sleeping and she hadn't coughed for a while and he actually leaned in a little closer to make sure she was still breathing. He watched her for a moment, a knot in the pit of his stomach, tightening. He had to do something for her. More than keep her safe and keep her fed. He had to do something to make her feel better because Beth being sick and staying sick and _dying_ from being sick was just not going to be something he would ever allow to happen.

Beth was all he had.

Leaving her sleeping, he pushed himself up to his feet, cracking his back and letting out a quiet grunt as he did so. The blankets had gotten all twisted around her during the night and he straightened them out for her now, covering her once more and even though she still wore the moccasin slippers on her feet, he made sure they were covered, too. He didn't want her to be any more cold than she probably already was.

He had been hesitant to light a fire over the last couple of days. He had still been getting a feel for this neighborhood but like he had told Beth yesterday, it seemed quiet and a bit off the beaten path and except for the random walkers that he had seen, it seemed like it would be alright for a while. They would stay for however long it took to get Beth completely well again and back to full strength. They had walked long enough and they both could use with a break for a little bit.

Grabbing his crossbow and making sure he had his knives and then making sure Beth's own knife was right next to her pillow where she'd be able to grab it if she needed to, Daryl quietly stepped out the back door and closed it behind him. The morning was cold and his breath appeared in front of him in jagged clouds, frost shining on the grass blades in the rising sun. A walker was stumbling from the trees and it seemed to see Daryl the instant he stepped onto the back steps and began rambling his way.

Daryl didn't move towards it though. He wanted to test something out.

The walker stumbled towards him and the house and Daryl took slow steps down the steps and across the porch, stepping into the tall grass, his eyes never leaving the walker. He pulled his crossbow into his hands and brought it up to his shoulder, ready to take aim but he was hoping he wouldn't have to. Not yet.

The fence around the backyard came up to his hips and it seemed to be made out of a strong wood. He immediately thought of the prison's chain link and how that seemed to grow weaker and weaker with each day. But this fence might be able to hold out longer. He hoped it would anyway. The ranch house he had found yesterday and would be moving them to today also had a wood, hip-high, fence and like he told Beth, he'd feel better if they had a fence surrounding their back and front.

The walker was snarling now as it saw Daryl cutting across the grass, getting closer to him, and the walker was trying to quicken its pace, getting to him sooner. It walked right into the fence. It snarled angrily when it couldn't walk any further and it continuously tried taking steps forward only to find that the fence was holding it back.

Daryl let out a breath he had been holding. He then fired the crossbow, the bolt sailing straight into the walker's head, the body dropping heavily to the ground in an instant. The morning was quiet again and the fence hadn't even shaken when being walked into.

Alright. So the fence would hold for a while. Now, he just had to find them water and food and they'd be alright. Or, at least, they would be better than they had been. Today was their fifty-sixth day together and if they could make this place work, he wanted to stay here at least until day sixty. Maybe even a couple past that. He knew Beth wouldn't want to stop their search for someone, anyone, else from their family but right now, his priority was her and nothing or no one else.

He opened the back gate and pulled the bolt from the walker's head before going back into the yard, locking the gate once more. He'd get their stuff moved to the house and then get Beth moved and situated and then he'd go hunting for something. She wasn't going to get better if all they ate was rice and granola.

Going back inside, Beth was still sleeping deeply and he wanted to keep her asleep for as long as possible. He moved quietly, packing everything into that pink plastic container. They had actually done alright. They had blankets and some food and a roof over their heads that seemed safe enough. He still had to find Beth some socks.

The house he had found was just four down from where they were now and he headed towards it, walking behind the other houses, keeping his eyes on the woods to the right and the houses to the left. The birds kept chirping in the trees and he imagined that the woods should have something he could track. He wanted to catch Beth a nice fat rabbit.

Setting the container down next to the gate of the fence, he unbolted it and pushed it open. Like their house was, this grass was also tall, growing to his hips, and he walked through it slowly, keeping his eyes down and looking up every few seconds, making sure that a walker wasn't just going to reach out and grab his ankle.

But all was quiet.

On the patio area, there was a wooden picnic table – once painted red – but weather and sun had caused it to fade and there were two wooden benches, both knocked over. The woman who had lived here – or he assumed it was a woman – had plotted all of the ground around the bricks for a garden that had been completely taken over with weeds. A few plants, browning and shriveled, seemed to still be somehow hanging on but Daryl couldn't tell what they were.

These back steps were concrete and they were silent as Daryl stepped onto them. He peered in through the glass door and knocked heavily, waiting. He didn't see or hear anything and slowly, he pushed the door open. This was unlocked as well and it was a heavy door – that might come in handy, too – and it opened into the kitchen. For a smaller house than the one they were in right now, the kitchen was still a bigger size than what he had been expecting.

He didn't stop to look around. He'd come back to that but for now, he just wanted to get the house cleared out and then get Beth over here. Even though the neighborhood was quiet, he hated leaving her alone for too long – especially when she was sleeping.

With the house being smaller, he was able to clear it out easily – killing the two walkers without breaking a sweat. He rolled them out the front door and left them on the front porch for the time being. He ignored the basement at the moment. He'd get to it. Going outside, he brought their pink container inside, leaving it in the kitchen. A bedroom was right off the kitchen and Daryl went back into it, taking stock of it. Beth would stay here.

Mind made up and deciding that it was safe and secure, Daryl left the house and hurried back to the house where Beth still was. He was relieved to find that she was still sleeping on the couch. Girl was so stubborn, he had been half expecting her to be awake and up, looking for him.

Not wanting to wake her, he moved slowly.

He put his crossbow on over his head and then making sure the blankets kept covering her, he crouched down and slipped his arms beneath her, easily lifting her up in his arms. Girl weighed next to nothing and he actually hated that. No wonder she was sick. Girl had no insulation to help keep her warm. He had to find her more clothes and blankets and he had to get her a rabbit and he'd build her a fire, too.

Beth shifted her head, resting it against his chest, letting out a quiet murmur. "Daryl?" She asked, practically mumbling.

"Yeah, girl," he said as he carefully carried her out of the house, making sure he didn't bang her head against the door frame.

"Are we leaving?" She asked and she still hadn't opened her eyes or hadn't moved her head from his chest and he wondered if she even knew that she was talking.

"'m takin' you to that house I told you 'bout yesterday," he told her though he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't remember anything of what they had talked about.

"Does it have a pool?" She asked. "I want to go swimming. I haven't been swimming for so long. I used to want to be a mermaid when I was little and Maggie told me I couldn't be a mermaid and I got so mad with her."

Daryl's lips twitched in a smile. Wanting to be a mermaid sounded exactly like Beth.

"Too cold to go swimmin'," he told her.

"Mmmm," she nestled herself closer to his chest. "You'd keep me warm."

Daryl felt the back of his neck warm and flush though he knew he shouldn't have any kind of reaction like that. Beth was sick and she didn't know what the hell she was saying and even if she did, she didn't mean it like _that_. And did he want her to mean it like that anyway? He couldn't look at Beth like that. He was too damn old for her and he had to keep her safe and they had enough things to worry about without adding feelings on top of it all. He liked her well enough and she liked him – at least he thought she did – and that was all that mattered. As long as they weren't screaming at each other anymore and he wasn't being a dick to her, no need to complicate things.

He carried her into the house, through the kitchen and right into the bedroom. The mattress wasn't too bad – just having gone without a body lying it for the past couple of years – and it seemed soft where Beth sank into it the instant he gently put her down. She let out a contented sigh and instantly rolled onto her side towards him. He covered her with the blankets once more and he'd find her a pillow and another blanket. He went back outside and closed the gate and bolted it shut and stood there for a moment, listening to how quiet the morning still was.

He'd make sure she was comfortable enough and then he'd go hunting. Hopefully, he'd be able to find something quick and easy so he could get back to her. And if he wasn't able to find any animals, he'd tear apart some more houses until he found something that she could eat and fill her stomach. He'd tear this world apart to find her food.

xxx

"Daryl?"

He stopped his rustling and came to the bottom of the basement stairs, looking up and seeing her standing there, the blankets around her shoulders like a cape.

"What are you doin' up?" He frowned up at her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"Jus' lookin'," he said. "Don't," he immediately protested when Beth took her first step down the stairs but she ignored him and he met her halfway, his hand gently holding her elbow, walking down slowly with her, making sure she didn't go tripping down.

"Is there anything?" Beth asked once she had reached the bottom. His hand remained at her elbow for another moment before it slipped away and he went back to where he was before she appeared.

The basement was a mess. The couple who had lived here had probably been an older couple with their kids having grown up and moved out but they hadn't gotten rid of any of their toys and most of them seemed to be stored down here. When people had come through here, looking for anything useful, most of the toys had been knocked to the ground without being thought of twice.

"Oh my gosh!" Beth then breathed out, breathless, and Daryl turned to see her walking towards something on the floor. "I had this same exact dollhouse," she said and he watched as she knelt on the floor and set the plastic house back upright.

He watched her for a moment as she smiled faintly to herself, opening familiar doors and touching familiar rooms. But then she started coughing again and he tried not to sigh. He couldn't believe there wasn't a blanket anywhere in this house. But then, he remembered when he and the run team from the prison raided houses. They took absolutely everything and blankets were always one of the biggest things to get.

There had been cardboard boxes that had once been in stacks but had now just been knocked onto the floor, their contents spilled out across the floor, piles of small tin boxes. He crouched down to look through the mess, seeing if there was anything even though he doubted it. If there was anything of use, it would have been taken a while ago. Through the hair hanging in his eyes, he saw Beth crawl away from the dollhouse and she knelt across from him, on the other side of the mess.

"Nothin' but a bunch of random shit that ain't gonna help us," Daryl frowned.

There were tin containers and Beth opened one of them, not saying anything. She found a spool of black thread and a tomato pincushion with a couple of pins stuck into it. She took both items and set them aside before opening another tin. Random safety pins and loose shirt buttons. She didn't take anything from that one.

He watched her as she looked through each tin. She was quick but efficient, taking stock of everything in each tin before either setting it aside for something to keep or setting it aside if it was useless. They had all gotten good at scavenging and salvaging and he wondered when Beth had gotten good at the skill. Was it the winter after the farm? Or was it while they were at the prison and Beth learned what was useful to them? Or was it something she had gotten good at in the past fifty-six days?

In one tin, she found rubber bands for hair and she set those aside to keep. Hers were always snapping, he had noticed.

In one tin, she found wrapped butterscotch candy. Without a word, she held one piece out for him to take and he did and popped it into his mouth, watching as she did the same with another. There were a few left and she set those aside to keep with her. One of the bigger tins was empty and she began packing everything she had found to keep inside of that one.

Daryl didn't go through any of them himself. He liked watching her for some reason. Besides, he wouldn't be good at deciding what they needed when it came to random stuff like that. Little stuff that most people didn't think twice of before the world ended.

Safety pins, another spool of thread – this one purple, both to be kept. There was a tin of dried glue and dry markers and Beth pushed that off to the other side to be forgotten before taking another tin. There were so many of them, Daryl wondered how the people who used to live here remembered what each one had held.

She found a spool of bandage tape and added it into their own tin and moved on.

"Are there more?" She asked, once she reached the last couple of tins remaining. She let out a cough and sniffled and wiped her nose on her shirt sleeve.

He wanted to tell her to get back to bed but instead, he nodded and pushed more tins on the floor behind him closer to her. She moved closer and began her work again. The truth was, Daryl liked having her close by where he could watch her. There was something about the way she moved and looked through each tin. Something delicate. Her fingers moved quickly yet purposely and steadily and it was almost like a dance.

Daryl shook his head at himself for the stupid thought – a thought Merle would kick his ass for – and finally picked up one of the tins, ready to help.

Nothing but salt and sugar packets taken from restaurants.

"Wait," Beth said as he began to set the tin aside to be forgotten. "Here," she took the tin from him and dumped the packets into her tin. He looked at her and she smiled a little. "Nothing wrong with mixing it in with our food. And the salt might help with my nose. Clear it up."

Daryl was sure to stay on the lookout for more salt.

He opened the next tin. "Think we found their collection of hotel loot," he commented dryly and showed her the collection of miniature bars of soap and shampoo bottles.

Beth smiled widely and she took the entire tin from him and stacked it along with hers. "I really wish I could wash myself. I know it's too cold but I just miss feeling clean. I know it won't last but just for a little bit, I think it might help."

"'ll find us some water and 'll get it warmed up for you," he promised.

He didn't know if he would actually be able to but the smile Beth gave him for that was worth it alone. He knew he'd pretty much do anything to find her some water so she could wash up.

He wasn't sure how long they stayed in the basement, going through everything, but when they finally came up the stairs, the sun was already sinking in the sky and Beth had collected three tins.

"Found us a couple squirrels earlier," Daryl mentioned. "Wen' huntin' this mornin' while you were still sleepin'."

"And you didn't tell me?" Beth asked and he could see the excitement shining in her eyes. He remembered how she had barely wanted to try squirrel that first night after the farm and Daryl had been able to find a few for everyone to share. Now, someone might think it was her favorite food with the way her face had brightened up.

He shrugged. "Wanted to get a rabbit but I didn' wanna be out there for too long and be leavin' you here alone."

Beth looked at him and it looked like she wanted to argue but she stayed quiet for a moment, which made him think that she knew she was sick and couldn't protect herself as well as she would be able to if healthy.

"We can use some of the salt on the meat," she then said. "Or the Shake-and-Bake," she added with a smile.

Daryl looked at her and smiled, too.

xxx

They ate outside on the back patio and Beth dug a little pit and made a small fire and Daryl cleaned the animals to be cooked over the open flame. They didn't make rice. They had plenty of it at the moment but they wanted to keep it that way. They wanted to make it last as long as they possibly could. They shook and coated the squirrel meat in the Shake-and-Bake mix and the meat sizzled over the popping flames.

And then, with each squirrel on its own stick, Daryl and Beth sat beside one another on the concrete step and began eating their dinner.

Beth let out a quiet moan. "Shake-and-Bake squirrel might be my new favorite thing in the world," she said and Daryl smirked a little, nodding in agreement. "I like it here," she then said after another bite. "And I feel better that it has a fence."

Daryl nodded in agreement. "Tested it out this morning on a walker. Seems strong. Should be safe in here for a while."

"How long will we stay here, do you think?" Beth asked, looking at him.

"However long you want," he said, giving the vague answer on purpose. He turned his head to look at her, those big eyes of hers settled on him. "I need you to get better," he then said in a quiet voice and he was almost embarrassed to say such a thing to her but it was the truth and he wasn't the sort to tell lies even when he probably should.

He needed her to get better. It wasn't just a want. He _needed_ her to get better because he needed her around. When it had been them who had gotten out of the prison together, he had cursed his luck and thought she'd be dead within a day or get him dead in the process. But she was quick to show him that he was an asshole for thinking that and Beth was so much stronger than probably anyone had ever thought to give her credit. She could more than handle herself. And him, too. He didn't worry anymore, knowing that Beth had his back.

And now, somewhere along the way in the past fifty-six days, he couldn't really imagine what it would have been like if he had gotten out with anyone else. Beth was a great partner to have and he knew that he had gotten this far because of her. If it had been just him, on his own, he would have been fine. He had always been good on his own. But he had fallen into such a place after the prison, he knew he wouldn't have been able to pull out of it on just his own. And he couldn't imagine anyone else pulling him out of it except for Beth. No one had ever called him on his shit before like her and Daryl knew he needed someone like her around to do just that. He needed _her_.

Beth nodded and didn't argue. "I think I just need a couple more days. I just need to sleep," she admitted.

"We're gonna stay as long as we need to. We've got a roof over our heads and a fence and enough food. I'll find us more. No reason to push on if we don't have to yet," he agreed and he realized that he was still staring at her. And she was staring at him, too.

"Who knows?" Beth then gave a little shrug. "Maybe someone we know will find us if we just stay in one place for a while."

Daryl saw no reason to disagree with that.

"'m gonna try and find us some water tomorrow," he said. "Water bottles won't last forever and you should be able to clean up when you wanna."

Beth's lips turned upwards into one of her soft smiles that always made his stomach clench and she leaned in then, her head finding a resting place on his shoulder, and he didn't dare more even a fraction of an inch and possibly disturb her. It felt nice and was helping make him feel warm for some reason.

"And I'll stay here and clean up a little," she suggested. "If we're going to stay here for a while, it should feel like a true home."

He took an inhale as if breathing in that word. _Home_.

He hadn't had one of those in his entire life. Definitely not any place he lived in as a kid or any place he crashed in with Merle. The farm had been a good place but it hadn't been a place of his and at the prison, it had been real good but he had always been so busy, making sure that everyone else felt at home, he didn't take much time to worry about himself.

But out here, in this random house in a row of others, in some random subdivision, sitting out on the back porch with Beth, eating Shake-and-Bake squirrel meat, he was thinking that maybe this could finally be something like that. Home. A possibly safe home where maybe they could hang around for a while and maybe make something of it. He wouldn't have thought when they first stepped through the woods and saw this place but maybe, they could make something of it.

And if staying here helped Beth stop coughing, Daryl knew he'd stay here forever.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a minute to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I've always believed that Beth is still alive but lately, I watch the show and my confidence that she is coming back is just fading more and more and that actually is depressing to me and I think Daryl might be starting to forget about her, too. I don't want to give up. I've been TD and I'll always be TD. But the show is just making me so sad because I think, maybe, the writers just really dropped the ball with Beth's "death" and all of the brilliant theories TD have actually aren't anything.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Four.**

Day fifty-seven and her throat hurt from coughing. She hated doing it but she stayed in bed for hours after the sun had come up and Daryl had come in just at dawn with a cup of water for her. She had pushed herself up just enough to take a greedy chug, hoping it would sooth her throat, before flopping back down again.

Daryl stood beside the bed for a moment, as if debating with himself about something, and then he crouched down and his hand rested heavily on her forehead. Beth tried to keep her eyes open and look at him and try to figure out what he was thinking. He was frowning and there was a furrow between her eyebrows. He then sighed and she heard him breathe out "Shit" quietly.

Beth didn't ask what was wrong. She knew. She could feel it for herself. She was burning up and she wanted to tell him that she was sorry. She didn't mean to get sick. She had shown to him over the past days together that she could hold her own; that if she had to, she could take care of herself and that she could help him if he would let her. And he had believed her. They were no longer just two people stuck together. They were partners and she knew Daryl looked to her as much as she looked to him.

But now she was sick. Really sick. And she was back to being the weak one. A burden. And she almost told him that he could leave her here and he could move on but before she could make the suggestion, Daryl pushed himself to his feet.

"Don't even think 'bout gettin' out of this bed today," he told her, still frowning, and he was definitely giving her an order.

And with that, without saying anything else, he turned and walked out of the bedroom. Beth wanted to argue with him but what would be the point? He was right. She had a fever and she needed to stay in bed. She'd talk with him about their options when he got back from wherever he was going. Last night, she had been feeling a little bit better and she's not too sure where this fever came from but she knew they couldn't do anything about it. They didn't have medicine except for some expired aspirin. They at least had this house that felt safe enough for the time being and it seemed like the only thing she could do for the time being was sleep.

So, that's what she did.

xxx

The day passed in a blur; in a series of scenes she hardly remembered.

She drifted in and out of sleep and was aware of her head spinning even on the pillow. Daryl came in a few times throughout the day – always wish fresh water and more tablets of the expired aspirin because even though they weren't doing anything for him, Beth knew that he was probably giving them to her to make himself feel like he was doing something to help her. Beth knew how he hated feeling helpless.

The front of the house faced North and the back of the house faced South and each time she opened her eyes, blurry with sleep, she saw the shadows in the room change position as the sun passed over them with the day.

"Beth," she heard him say his name in that gravel tone of his and she opened her eyes to see him standing beside the bed. She wanted to ask him what he had been doing all day but she didn't even have the energy for the question. "'s snowin' out," he then told her as he arranged the blankets around her to make sure she was completely covered. "I've let a fire in the family room and I'm gonna take you to it," he continued.

Beth nodded and she felt his strong arms slip beneath her body and he was lifting her up. And even though he did so slowly, she still felt the room spinning and she rested her head against his chest as he carried her from the bedroom, through the kitchen and to the family room. She felt the flames of the fire immediately on her body and with that in addition to his body and the blankets, she moaned uncomfortably. She was too hot.

Daryl eased her down on the couch and quickly arranged the blankets once more.

"I'm too hot, Daryl," she mumbled, trying to kick them away from her.

"Nah, Beth," he said as he knelt down beside her and made sure the blankets remained covering her. "We can't let you get cold."

She mumbled something in response but not even she knew what she wanted to say.

"Stay here," he then ordered as if she was in any condition to not just lie there and close her eyes and she heard him getting up and a moment later, the back door opened and he stepped outside.

She didn't know how long he was gone but it felt like he was back within seconds.

"Got to take advantage of it while we still can," Daryl muttered and she had no idea what he was talking about but then she gasped in surprise when suddenly, she felt something ice cold on her forehead. Her eyes flew open and she looked at him. "'s snow. Put some in a rag. Think it might help a lil'," he explained and the shock of it was starting to wear off as he kept the snow to her head. "My ma used to put ice on my forehead when I had a really bad fever," he then said in a quieter voice.

"Feels good," she said truthfully and she forced her eyes to stay open, keeping them on him, taking him all in as if she hadn't looked at him in days.

He looked tired. Really tired. As if he hadn't slept a wink the night before. And that made her frown. He couldn't do that. He had to take care of himself, too. And they had found a hose that seemed to be in a quiet setting surrounded with a fence. He could rest. He needed to rest. At least one of them had to be strong at the moment.

"Daryl," she said his name – more like croaked – and his eyes instantly went to hers. He adjusted the rag so the snow shifted inside and more of it hit her forehead. That felt _really_ good, she was distracted for a moment, thinking it. But then she focused on him once more. "You don't have to stay here, with me, if you want to move on," she said.

Daryl went completely still and he stared at her.

"We don't know if I'll get better," she continued and feeling a dryness in her throat, she did her best to swallow it down. Daryl didn't say a word or even shift. He just kept staring at her and she could see the muscles in his face twitch as he clenched his jaw together. "I don't want you to-" she abruptly cut herself off. "You can go and find our family and you can… you don't have to stay here with me."

The silence from Daryl stretched on between them for what felt like forever. The snow was melting and he pulled the rag away and wiped at her wet forehead with another dry one. And all the while, she looked at him and he didn't look away from her. She had been with him long enough now – fifty-seven days – to know that he was furious. He didn't have to say anything. She could see it in his eyes. They were practically black as they stared at her and his jaw was still clenched tightly together.

And when he did speak, it wasn't in response to what she had just said.

"Get some sleep," he ordered gruffly and with that, he stood up and walked away. The back door opened once more and he went outside and with him gone, everything was silent once again except for the wood snapping and cracking in the fireplace hearth.

The snow really had helped. Her entire head felt cool and she laid there, curled on her side, as she looked into the fire, the blankets tight around her. She had no idea where Daryl had gone or when he would be coming back but she didn't want to fall asleep and having him leave so angry. Angry was stupid and stupid got you killed.

She knew she shouldn't but she couldn't just have him storm away. They had to talk to each other. They weren't doing that anymore. They weren't going to be silent and just stew in their anger until one of them – or both of them – exploded at one another. They had been together for fifty-seven days and they were past that.

With the decision made, she slowly sat up, closing her eyes for a moment as the room around her spun and she tried to get it to stop for at least a few minutes. She then stood up and grasping one of the blankets around her like a cape, she followed after him.

He stood in the backyard, looking out to the fence and the growing dark woods behind that and he was smoking one of the cigarettes he had found. Two walkers had stumbled towards the house sometime during the day and now seeing Daryl, they tried to get to him, walking into the fence over and over again, not able to get past that. A gentle snow was falling, the flurries silent as it gave everything a light coating.

As soon as he heard the door open, he turned to see her. "What the hell you think you're doin' out here?" He asked but didn't take a step towards her to get her back into the house.

Beth tightened the blanket around her and stepped out onto the top step of the patio. It was cold and she only wore her slippers with no socks and she knew it was stupid to be out here but she couldn't just let him be out here and let his anger at her grow.

"I don't want you to be mad at me," she told him.

He looked at her for a moment and then smirked, shaking his head and looking back towards the two walkers. "Get back inside, Beth," he said.

"No," she said strongly and the growls of the walkers grew with their frustration.

Daryl spun around and finally looked at her head on. "What the hell you think you're doin', sayin' that kind of shit inside?"

Beth tightened the blanket around herself. "If I get worse-"

"You are gonna get worse if you don't get your ass back inside," he growled.

She frowned at him. "Then come back inside with me so I don't have to chase you down and make you talk with me."

"Nothin' to talk 'bout, girl," he shook his head and stubbornly looked away from her again, taking another drag of his cigarette, his eyes going back to the two walkers. "You think I would jus' leave you behind."

"No. I don't think that about you. It's what I _want_ you to do. If I don't get better-"

Daryl was quick. He flicked the cigarette into the snow and without a word, he strode to her and swept her up in his arms. She gasped and the world around her began to spin and she wrapped her arms around his neck in an attempt at steadying it right now.

"You've never been stupid, Beth. Don't go startin' to act like it now," Daryl told her as he carried her back into the house.

Instead of placing her on the couch or carrying her back into the bedroom, he sat her down on the floor, directly in front of the fire. He then got her other blankets from the couch and wrapped those around her shoulders, too.

He went and closed the door and Beth watched as he sat down beside her then. The flames instantly warmed her and she stretched her legs out in front of her so her feet could feel the flames, too. Daryl brought his legs up and wrapped his arms loosely around them and neither of them said anything for a few passing minutes.

"'m goin' on a run tomorrow," Daryl then said and she turned her head to look at him. He was staring into the fire but feeling her eyes, he turned his head to look at her. "There's plenty of houses 'round here to still go through but I'm gonna go out further. See if I can find anything that can help you."

Beth stared at him, not too sure what to say.

Daryl had always been the one to go on runs. He had no problem being out there, scavenging, looking for things that might be useful. He just hadn't been on a run without her for so long. They hadn't been away from each other like that yet. She knew, deep down, it would have had to happen eventually. Sometime, a situation would arise where they would have to separate for a while. She just hadn't been expecting to arise right now and have it be because of her.

"I won't be gone long," he then added. "Jus' wanna know our surroudin's better."

Beth nodded in agreement because she did agree. She just didn't like the plan no matter how much sense it made to her.

She began coughing and rose her arm so she could do so in the crook of her elbow. Daryl got up only to return a moment later with a cup of water. She drank it down gratefully and was relieved at the way it soothed her throat.

"'m gonna get this snow together, too, so we have some more fresh water," he said.

"You're doing too much, Daryl," she spoke quietly and her stomach twisted with guilt. Why did she have to get sick? She wanted to pull her own weight. She couldn't expect him to do everything and take care of her at the same time. She had to do things, too. If it was Maggie, she wouldn't let being sick stop her from doing anything.

Maggie.

Despite trying so hard to find any of their family, Beth actually tried to keep herself from thinking about her sister too much.

 _Glenn, go to Terminus_.

Signs for Glenn dotted the train tracks but none for her and Beth knew why Maggie hadn't bothered. She knew what Maggie thought. Beth was just another dead girl and there was no reason for Maggie to stop and think that maybe, _maybe_ , Beth had made it.

She and Daryl didn't discuss it but they stepped from the train tracks and stopped following them after that. It had been Daryl, actually, who had led them away and Beth hadn't protested. She didn't know if she could handle seeing another sign from Maggie for Glenn – and only Glenn – and Daryl seemed to understand that. They kept going in the general direction of Terminus – whatever the hell that was – but they weren't following the tracks anymore.

Beth wondered if everyone else they knew was heading towards Terminus; if she and Daryl should head there, too. They hadn't talked about it but maybe they had some medicine that could possibly help her. Maybe she and Daryl shouldn't stick around here for a while like they had talked about just the night before and maybe they should pack up their stuff and start the trek to Terminus.

And yet, there was just something about Terminus that gave her a prick on the back of her neck but she couldn't explain why.

"I gotta do more," Daryl murmured, more to himself that to her, and she looked at him but his eyes were back to watching the flames of the fire. "Wasn' able to find anythin' out there today. Got nothin' but rice and granola to eat for dinner tonight."

"That's more than we've had some days," she reminded him, wanting to keep things in prospective for him.

She didn't _need_ him to try and hunt something every day. They still had food to eat and water to drink. Daryl was determined and stubborn though and if he got something in his head, it was hard to get it out of there again. She knew from personal experience.

Beth leaned into him then and rested her head against his arm, letting out a soft sigh, and they were both quiet again, watching the fire and she was feeling herself toasty again; almost _too_ toasty but she didn't complain. Her eyes began to droop close, the mixture of her fever and being too hot beginning to make her sleepy once again.

"'m never gonna leave you," Daryl then said in a quiet voice and for a moment, she wondered if she had already fallen asleep and was now just dreaming it or if she was still awake and hadn't imagined it at all.

But either way, it was one of the best things Beth had ever heard.

xxx

Day fifty-eight and she woke up, feeling a little better. She really did. She was still a bit dizzy and she was still sneezing and coughing but at least she was able to sit up and hold her head up without wanting to lay right back down again.

Daryl looked at her doubtfully when she told him but she just gave him a small smile and drank down her cup of water, determined to show him.

The fire had died down a little during the night but Daryl had tossed a couple more logs onto it, shooting it back up to life, and they sat on the floor in front of it, drinking their water and eating from her box of granola. Apparently, he wasn't going to be choosy about it anymore, and she had smiled when he took his first fistful.

"There was a house down the street from ours," Daryl said. "Man had a horse. Could barely keep a roof over his own head but he treated that horse like a king. He'd sometimes let me over and brush it down. The horse ate stuff like this," he said before tilting his head back and dropping more granola into his mouth.

She laughed a little at that and shook his head as she happily ate at her portion. It was funny to her how sometimes, Daryl could act like such a little boy.

She looked up as she felt Daryl's hand on her forehead again, feeling her fever. She was still warm but it had definitely gone down during the night. She liked to think that it had been the snow he had placed on her face.

"It is goin' down," Daryl said and he seemed almost reluctant to admit that but she knew that he just wanted to be sure; didn't want to get his hopes up in case… "Still goin' on that run," he then said, taking his second handful of granola. "What do you need?"

She needed him to not go. At least not without her. She wanted to tell him that she couldn't stand the thought of him leaving because nothing was certain anymore. He could say until he was blue in the face that he would be back in a few hours but words like that didn't mean anything anymore. Absolutely anything could happen out there and she wanted to be next to him when it did.

But she couldn't say any of that. She was still sick and she would do nothing but hold him back. What if they had to run? Right now, she could barely walk without needing to sit down again after a few minutes. And eventually, they always had to run. She knew though, whether she went with him or not, if anything happened to Daryl, it would be her fault. He wouldn't be leaving this house and going out there if it wasn't for her.

She kept quiet and sipped her water, no longer looking at him. She didn't trust herself to be able to look at him because with all of these days together, he had gotten pretty darn good at reading her and she didn't need him to read anything on her face right now.

"Maybe I find some scissors and you can cut my hair," he suggested and she smiled around the rim of her cup but still wouldn't look at him. "You got your knife?" He then asked in a lowered voice.

Beth nodded once and her hand went to where she could feel it against her thigh. "Always," she assured him.

When they had run from the prison and her gun had become useless, Daryl had given her his hunting knife to have on her. It had been too big and heavy and almost awkward to hold but she had needed something and she had grasped it tightly, looping it onto her jean loop and never taking it off. They had later found her a knife much better suited for her – smaller and lighter and when Daryl gave it to her in its own brown leather sheath, she had held it close and beamed up at him and the tips of his ears had turned red.

"Beth, what do you need?" He asked her again and she felt his eyes on her.

What would she do if he went and he didn't come back? She'd go out and try to find him. He had begun showing her how to track and she would track him. She'd be damned if she wouldn't find him either. They may have lost the rest of their family but she wasn't going to lose him. She couldn't. She needed him too much. She could admit it and she admitted it willingly and freely. She needed him so much and without him, she didn't even know if she would know which way to turn.

Daryl kept her safe. She said she could take care of herself and she could – for the most part – but just being around him, Beth felt stronger and braver. They had been together for so many days now, she could sometimes know what he would do before he did it. They were becoming in tune with one another; no one had ever known her as well as Daryl Dixon now did. Not her mama or daddy or brother or Maggie. None of her friends or silly boyfriends she used to have. She had changed and become someone else and Daryl had been with her every step of the way to see her transform into who she was now. And even after they met the rest of their family, they wouldn't know her.

She finally turned her head and looked at him. "I need you to come back."

xxx

He set off as soon as he had finished a third handful of granola and Beth filled a water bottle for him. She gave him two granola bars, which he put into his other pocket, and he patted himself down to make sure he had his other knifes and other bolts.

And even though he told her not to, she walked outside with him. The two walkers from the night before were still at the fence, snarling, becoming more animated as they came out of the house and were spotted. She stood on the top step and Daryl began heading down the steps but then he stopped and seemed to think of something for he turned around, looking at her, their faces even now.

"Keep the door lock and don't step outside for nothin'," he said. "When I get back, I'll do the knock so you know 's me."

She nodded without argument. She wondered if he knew how tight her stomach was knotting. Not because she was going to be left alone but because he was going out there without her.

"I'll be back in a lil' bit," he then added as if able to read her thoughts and she suddenly wanted to hug him so she did.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight. She refused to cry even as she felt the beginning signs of tears burning behind her eyes and she squeezed them shut tight to keep any more from forming. She didn't want to cry in front of him.

His hands were light on her back and she knew he still wasn't comfortable with affection but it didn't matter because he wasn't stiff and he had touched her back. "I'll bring you back some soup," he promised her and she couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

When she pulled back, her eyes were wet but she managed to give him a smile. She didn't know what to say. She had already said what she wanted; what she needed.

Daryl stared at her and she didn't know if he would say anything else. But then he leaned in and unexpectedly pressed his lips to her forehead in a quick kiss; so quick, she hardly had time to register it before he had turned and went down the steps and began cutting through the grass. She stood there, watching as he easily sank his knife into the heads of the two walkers, before slipping through the gate, reaching over and locking it again. He looked at her for a long moment before he turned and went into the woods.

Beth stood there for another minute more before turning and going back into the house, locking the door behind her just as he had told her to do. She slowly lifted her fingers and brushed them along the spot where his lips had just touched her. She knew it wasn't her fever but her head now felt as if it was burning as if it was.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I really love it being just these two for the moment.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Five.**

He walked the woods around the subdivision, looking at the backs of the houses he passed, realizing that he had a lot more to go through. Maybe he should just stick by close today and go through them now instead of going off to where he didn't even know. He had wanted to get a feel for the area around them since he didn't care what Beth said. They were going to be sticking around for a while and he wouldn't even think of leaving if she wasn't right there next to him. And if they were staying here, he wanted to be familiar with it but he was hesitant to go too far without Beth. He was so used now, after fifty-eight days with her and only her, to having her at his side.

And with her sick, he felt even less comfortable with leaving her alone. What if something happened? What if she had to defend herself and she wasn't able to? Daryl would never forgive himself if something ever happened to Beth. He had to protect her and keep her safe and he couldn't go off, traipsing around and being away from her for who knew how long? Beth was all he had now and he knew he didn't want to be without her. He _couldn't_ be without her.

Decision made, he headed from the woods back towards the houses. He hadn't gone this far into the subdivision from where they were staying – these houses closer to the entrance – and he figured these would be the ones the most picked over but he would go through them all himself and make sure.

What surprised him was there were still walkers in a few of the houses. Not many. Two or three but maybe, if they were still there, the houses weren't as picked over as he initially thought. Maybe there would be something useful inside. Maybe a can of soup.

He worked quickly but he made sure to be thorough. He wanted to go through as many houses as he could before the sun set and he could get back to Beth before it was dark. The winter made his day a short one though unfortunately.

He grabbed whatever he could – glancing at it and figuring it could be useful but knowing they'd really sort through everything when he got back to the house tonight. He found a garbage bag and started filling it with the odds and ends he found in the next three houses. He was really trying to find blankets, socks and soup but he grabbed anything he considered that might have the possibility of being useful to them.

He thought of Beth the whole day, the girl having settled in the back of her mind and not leaving. And he realized that he didn't really mind her being there. After all, it was Beth and she was his responsibility and he better think of her. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Not after her pops and her own sister writing her off as dead. But he wasn't going to think of Maggie right now. He just got pissed off when he did. He understood she had a husband to worry about but Beth was her sister. Her own flesh and blood and it didn't matter how many times you went off and got married. That didn't change. You just didn't forget about your flesh and blood.

Hell, he had stabbed his brother through the head but that didn't stop Merle from being his brother even in death. Daryl thought about him at least once a day and Maggie had no way of knowing if Beth was alive or dead but seeing those signs along the train tracks for Glenn and Glenn only, it was pretty clear what Maggie thought.

Daryl wanted to find her just so Beth's survival could be rubbed in her face.

But knowing Beth and the kind of person she was, they would find her sister and Beth would forget all about her anger and hurt and be just so happy to see Maggie again, she'd forgive and forget about everything. Daryl wasn't sure if he could though. Beth Greene was far from weak and he wanted everyone to see that for themselves.

First though, he had to get her better and make sure she stayed that way.

It was his own damn fault. He kept them out in that rain for too long before he was able to find them a car to get into. He knew Beth wasn't fragile but she sure hell was a lot more delicate than him and he couldn't forget that.

He opened the cabinets, not expecting to find anything, but in the back, pushed to the far corner, he saw the familiar red and white cans and he grabbed them without even looking as to what they were. He just knew that it would soup and they could cook it over the fire. It didn't matter what kind it was. There was also a small tub of something that had JIF on it and he grabbed that, too. He figured Beth was the only person still alive in this world who wasn't sick of peanut butter yet.

A couple of houses later, he found a pair of socks and he breathed a sigh of relief because they weren't just socks. They were thick and seemed to be made of wool and these would be perfect to keep her feet warm because she couldn't wear the slippers for the rest of winter. Her sopping wet socks had dried out in front of the fire but he still kept his eyes open for another pair.

He didn't think he had been gone that long but as he left the sixth house, he could already see the sun sinking lower in the western sky. It was alright though. He would remember where he was and he'd pick this up tomorrow. Plenty of houses left.

A walker was rambling across the yards, snarling as he smelled him, and started heading right for him. Daryl carefully set the trash bag down and pulled his cross off his shoulder. He shot the walker between the eyes and it dropped to the ground heavily and as Daryl went to go get his bolt back, he stopped, his ears pricking like a deer's when it heard something close by. For a moment, he stood perfectly still, waiting to hear it again. It wasn't not a walker. Walkers shuffled. They didn't step. Daryl had definitely heard a step. _Someone_ was walking nearby.

He pulled the bolt from the walker's head and armed his crossbow once more, bringing it up tight to his shoulder, his finger poised over the trigger. He'd fire it without hesitation or question. This was where he and Beth were staying and they weren't looking to have any company.

Yeah, someone was definitely coming. They would walk a few steps and then stop – as if they were looking at something or looking for something. Leaving this trash bag on the sidewalk for the time being, he followed the steps, creeping himself between two houses, not making a sound as he slowly peeked around the back corner. And there was a man in the backyard, a pack on his back. He looked as dirty and tired as anyone who had been out here for a long time and he seemed to be alone but Daryl didn't care. He wasn't going to take chances. They let one man they didn't know walk away and live, the next time they saw that man, he could be driving a tank and coming to attack them.

They couldn't be safe anymore.

He knew what Beth would say if she was here with him; that there were still good people out there and Daryl had found that he wanted to believe that – believe _her_ – but he couldn't right now. Not when Beth was sick and he had to make this place safe for both of them until she was well again.

Daryl didn't say a word as he stepped from around the side of the house and stood there for the man to see, his crossbow aimed right at him. The man noticed him within the second and seemed surprised for a moment to see another human. He then saw the crossbow and his eyes stared at it for a moment before he looked back to Daryl.

"It's just me," he said. "I'm on my own."

Daryl didn't say anything. He just kept staring at the man and the wild beard he was growing and the length of his hair and the dirtiness of his clothes and Daryl believed him. He did. But what was he going to do? Take him back to the house where Beth was and share their rice with him? Risk that this man wouldn't kill either of them the instant they turned their backs? Or let him go and trust that he wouldn't try and come back?

This was his and Beth's spot for the time being and no one else was except them was going to be staying.

Daryl noticed the man had a large hunting knife hanging from his belt and the man's hand was now slowly going towards it. Daryl felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Instinct. And his instinct had never betrayed him before and he wasn't going to ignore it now. Without questioning it for even a second, Daryl pulled the trigger and let the bolt fly right into the man's chest.

If the man was surprised by Daryl's sudden attack, he didn't show it as he crumpled down to the ground. Daryl knew he was still breathing though and pulling out his own knife from the sheath hanging by his belt, he approached the man. His breathing was already shallow and quickened and he looked up at Daryl with something of a smile.

"Can't be too careful nowadays," the man said, as if excusing Daryl's action.

Daryl just crouched next to him and didn't say anything.

"Don't let me turn," he said, looking up to Daryl. "You'll do that for me."

Daryl nodded. "I'll bury you, too, if you wan'."

The man smiled at that. "Good man," he said as if Daryl wasn't the one responsible for killing him. "There's some green beans left over there."

And that was all the man said because after that, less than a minute later, he was gone.

Daryl took his knife and slowly sank it into the man's head, stopping him from coming back, and then wiping the blade on the man's shirt, he sheathed the knife once more. He then pulled the bolt from the man's chest and loaded the bow again.

With the sun still in the sky, he looked over to where the man was talking about and sure enough, there was a garden, completely overgrown. Daryl knew he wouldn't have time to dig the man a proper hole with the last bit of light in the day left and he didn't even have a shovel. He'd have to find one tomorrow. He'd remember where the man laid so he could come back tomorrow and take care of him. In the meantime, Daryl stood up and went to the garden – finding not only green beans, miraculously not all having died in the cold weather but he found a fat, round squash sitting in the dirt.

And despite the man dead behind him where Daryl had dropped him, Daryl felt his lips twitching in a smile as he gathered the vegetables and then going to get the trash bag of his other findings, he started walking down the sidewalk, back towards home.

xxx

He went to the back door instead of the front and even though it was glass and she could see him, he knocked quietly three times. He peered in but didn't see Beth in the kitchen nor in the family room and he waited, frowning to himself, not liking that he didn't know where she was.

And then he saw her, flying into the kitchen from the bedroom and she quickly unlocked the door but before he could even get a word out, she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight, not seeming to mind that his arms were full or that his crossbow was probably digging into her head. She hugged him long and tight and Daryl felt the need to close his eyes and just let the hug last for as long as she wanted it to.

Finally, after he didn't know how long, Beth slowly pulled her head back and looked at him and she looked so relieved. And tired. He started to frown. It looked like she hadn't gotten any rest at all that day. But looking over her shoulder, looking into the house, he could see why she hadn't gotten any rest. She had been straightening up and cleaning.

"You're back," she then breathed with relief as if she had to say the words out loud for her to believe it. "I didn't… I didn't know if you'd be back today," she then said.

He nodded and she finally stepped back so he could come into the house. She swiftly closed the locked the door once more behind him and he couldn't help but think _Good girl_ though he didn't even think about saying that out loud to her.

"Yeah. Decided to go through the houses 'round here that I haven' gotten to yet," he said as he carefully set the trash bag on the floor and the vegetables on the counter.

Beth gasped when she saw what he had found. "Squash? Daryl, you found squash!"

"You like it?" He asked though it was pretty damn obvious she did.

He liked that even after fifty-eight days together as one another's sole companions, he was still finding stuff out about her.

Beth picked it up and cradled it in her arms like she used to with Lil' Asskicker and she smiled at him. And she didn't look that tired anymore. In the fading sunlight of the kitchen, Daryl thought about how damn pretty Beth Greene looked in that moment.

He shook his head slightly at himself, as if clearing his mind of his thoughts, and picked up the trash bag once more. "Need your help goin' through all this," he said and walked past her, heading into the family room, hearing her follow behind.

They sat on the floor next to each other and she was still holding the squash, now in her lap, and he opened up the trash bag, wanting to show her something before anything else. He hadn't even looked at them when he had grabbed them.

"Promised you soup," he said and pulled the Campbell's soups cans out. He frowned when he looked at them. "What the fuck is cream of celery?" He then asked with a furrowed brow and Beth laughed, reaching over and taking them from his hand, looking at them herself.

"They're used for cooking with other stuff but we'll add water and a little bit of salt and cook it over the fire. I think it will taste just fine," she said, smiling at him.

He knew they had to make do with what they could find but he didn't know if some stupid cream of celery soup would make her feel better.

He suppressed a sigh. "Also found you socks," he then and found the wool pair, pulling them out and holding them out for her to take.

Beth's smile grew. "My feet are going to be on fire," she happily told him and he watched as she took off the slippers and gently tugged on the socks, watching as her toes wiggled back and forth in their new encasing.

Everything about Beth was tiny. Even her toes.

And for some reason, he liked that about her.

He thought of the way he had kissed her forehead before he had left that morning and he still didn't know why he had done that. It had been done so quick – like some sort of reflex – and he had turned away before he could see her reaction to it. Was pretty sure she had been left as confused as he felt and he'd rather just pretend he had never done it. He had no business kissing Beth on the forehead or even _thinking_ about doing something like that towards her. This was Beth. They were partners and family and he didn't need to be going, complicating things as if everything wasn't complicated enough.

He was just going to pretend he had never done it and hopefully, Beth would follow his lead. Hopefully, they'd never talk about it. It would just be easier that way.

xxx

They went through the rest of the stuff. A thick blanket that Beth told him was his, a couple pairs of boxers and underwear for them both, a new flannel shirt for himself, that tub of JIF that turned out to be JIF Whipped – whatever the hell that was but Beth explained to him it was fluffier and lighter than regular peanut butter – more candles and one of those small hardware kits for the home with little nails and screws in it. Daryl didn't know what they would do with it but he had grabbed it the instant he saw it.

"I found some stuff, too," Beth smiled. "A couple of books that I'm going to take with us, a new backpack to carry the rest of our things in and…" she waited, preparing for a dramatic reveal and when she revealed the pair of scissors, he smirked a little.

"After we eat," he agreed and she beamed.

Beth decided to save the squash for tomorrow. Tonight, they made one of the cans of soup and Beth insisted on splitting it with him – though he wanted her to eat the whole thing herself – the green beans and another cup of rice. And for dessert, they had a chocolate bar. Not too bad of a dinner – pretty filling actually – and the soup wasn't as shitty as he thought it would be. And the heat of it was definitely helping drain Beth's nose as she ate it, he hearing her sniffle constantly and blow her nose every few minutes. Even if it was some weird celery cream soup, it seemed to be doing its job.

And once they were done, he didn't necessarily want to but he knew he had to. He told her about the man and how he had to find a shovel to go back and dig a hole tomorrow. Beth was quiet and he looked at her as she thought over what he had told her. She sat beside him, both of them resting their backs against the couch behind them and their legs stretched out in front of them, their feet roasting in front of the fire crackling away in the hearth. It was dark around them, the walls dancing with shadows, but the fire shone onto her face, not able to hide anything as he looked at her.

"I know you don't approve…" he heard himself beginning to say and he knew it was because he couldn't really stand the idea of Beth being disappointed with him. "But I gotta keep this place safe for us."

After a moment, Beth nodded her head. "I know," she said in a soft voice. "I'll go with you tomorrow. Make the man a cross."

Daryl didn't argue, knowing whatever words he would say to her would be wasted ones.

"Let's cut your hair tomorrow," she suggested then, turning to look at him. "That way, we can be outside in the sun and we won't get hair everywhere in here. The birds can take it and use it for their nests."

That was Beth. Always thinking of others.

Daryl felt his lips turning upwards in a little smile. "You made it look real nice in here," he then commented and noticed the slight color rising in her cheeks but he figured she was just feeling warm with the fire and the new thick socks on her feet.

It was getting to be pretty warm in here, he agreed.

"If we're going to be stay here for a while, there's no reason we can't make it nice," she said, shrugging as if trying to be casual about it though he knew how important things like this were to her. He remembered how hard she had tried to make the prison a home for all of them. That was really all Beth wanted, he knew. A home.

"And those tomatoes in a can, I planted the seeds and gave them water and I put them in one of the windows in the living room so they'll get sun tomorrow morning and then in the evenings, I'll move them to the other side of the house. And then, when it's warm enough to plant them outside, we'll make a garden."

Daryl wondered if she realized that she was making it sound as if they would be staying here a lot longer than just until she felt better. But knowing Beth, she was probably perfectly aware of her words, and Daryl didn't find himself disagreeing. They could make this place work – him and her – if they wanted it, too. They'd had to find a source of water and if they did that, there was no reason why they couldn't stay here for longer than just maybe the winter. He knew she would want to keep looking for their family and he didn't disagree. He wanted to keep looking, too, but maybe, if they just stayed in one place for a while, their family would find them instead.

"Sounds good," he agreed in a rough voice that made him clear his throat. Sounded real good, actually. "What books did you find?"

Beth smiled and he watched as she got to her feet and left the family room, heading through the kitchen and into the bedroom. And when she came back, she had two paperback novels in her hands. She settled back down on the floor beside him and he looked down to the books, seeing they were by the same writer.

"I started reading this one earlier today," she said and with that, she opened the one called _The Shadowy Horses_ and turned to the first page.

He didn't ask her to but she knew it was what he wanted. She began to read to him.

"The bus had no business stopping where it did. We should have gone straight on across the Coldingham Moor, with Dunbar to the back of us and the English border drawing even nearer, but instead we stopped, and the shaggy-faced cattle that lifted their heads on the far side of the fence appeared to share my surprise when the driver cut the engine to an idle…"

And as Beth read, Daryl closed his eyes as if he was letting her words just blanket over him and he leaned back, resting his head against the couch. Before he even realized it, he drifted off to sleep.

xxx

Beth seemed better today. A lot better. The occasional cough and sniffle but she was able to stand up today without swaying. And Daryl found himself breathing a lot easier, a knot in his back between his shoulders that he hadn't even really realized had been back there was staring to loosen as he searched the garage that had long been plundered. But in the back, behind a tangle of tomato cages, he found a compact shovel folded in half. Beth took two pieces of scrap wood she had found and one of the nails from the hardware kit and without a word, they left their house and started heading down the street.

It was just dawn now, the sky turning that light blue and orange, blending in with the still black and dark blue smoothly, and the morning birds chirped their songs happily away in the trees. The fog still hung lowly above the ground, just around their ankles, but it would disappear soon enough. It was cold, too, and their breaths appeared in front of them in jagged clouds. Beth was wearing the backpack and the knit hat he had found her and he wanted to ask if she was cold but he knew that if he did, she would tell him she was fine. So he didn't ask and he just kept quiet, smoking on the cigarette he had lit as they walked from the garage.

Daryl led her along the side of the house and in the backyard, the man was still lying there as if Daryl had expected him to get up sometime during the night and walk away.

Beth's eyes settled on the man before they scanned around the backyard. "There," she said, pointing to a spot beneath an oak tree, the ground beneath covered in the brown dead leaves that had fallen from its branches in the fall.

Daryl nodded and he headed to the chosen spot to begin digging without argument. He finished his cigarette and made sure it was completely out before it could start a fire among the leaves and he unfolded the shovel, his eyes lifting to look at Beth. She was kneeling on the ground beside the man, straightening up his clothes as if preparing him for a proper burial. She then took the nail and the two pieces of wood and using the handle of her knife as the hammer, she began making the cross.

Daryl didn't dig that deep of a hole and even though it was cold, he was sweating by the time he was done and he wiped his arm across his forehead as he pulled himself out of it. Beth stood up as Daryl grabbed the man's ankles and as gently as he could, Daryl pulled him across the lawn towards the hole, dropping him in as carefully as he could.

He then began dumping the dirt back over the body and Beth was able to stab the cross into the cold ground at the head of the grave.

"He had a few things on him. A knife and a little bit of food…" Beth said. "I took it all."

"Good girl," Daryl said, not able to stop himself this time from saying it and Beth didn't comment on it.

Once the hole was filled, Daryl took some of the leaves and scattered them over the upturned dirt and then stood, exhaling a deep breath. He folded the shovel and swung it over his shoulder and came to stand beside Beth. She was quiet as she stood there for a few minutes and Daryl was quiet, waiting for her, knowing she was probably praying.

And when she was done, she exhaled a soft breath and opened her eyes once more, looking at him. "I want to show you something."

She hadn't taken his hand as they stood there but she took his hand now, pulling him towards the garden. Her hand was cold but his felt warm and he couldn't help but squeeze her a little as if wanting to give her his heat.

"We have the soup can from last night and I saw a few more in the garage. We fill them with dirt and we take these plants with us. We can plant them in the ground in the spring when we make our garden."

Daryl crouched down beside her though he wasn't too sure how to help her. So he just watched her as she gently dug at a few of the green bean plants, handling them as gentle as newborn babies and she gently pulled them from the ground, roots attached. She'd hand them to Daryl to hold and she then went to work on the squash plant.

"Tomatoes, green beans and squash," Beth smiled as they started walking back towards their house with their plants in their hands. Daryl hoped no walkers came towards them right now. Daryl would hate to drop the plants to the ground to take care of it. "We're going to have an amazing garden in the next few months."

And Daryl found himself smiling a little, too. Sounded pretty damn amazing to him.

He thought of the man he had just buried and Daryl was still waiting to feel guilty about killing him but he didn't. He knew, without a doubt, that he'd kill a thousand more people if it meant keeping Beth and their home and garden safe.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I just want to apologize. I have been so down lately with certain things going on in my personal life and this show/fandom really isn't helping matters. But I love writing these two - no matter what happens - and they make me happy. Thank you for putting up with me over the past few weeks as I go through this.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Six**.

Beth's eyes fluttered open on day sixty-two to the sound of steady rain hitting the roof overhead and against the windowpanes. She laid there a moment and just listened to it, having always loved lying in her warm bed and listening to the rain. There was a walker out there last night, right beneath the bedroom window facing the side of the house and she had fallen asleep, listening to it groan, and she heard it now, still in the same spot. She wasn't going to go outside in the rain though to take care of it.

She laid there, curled beneath the blankets, trying to hear where Daryl was in the house but as always, he was quiet, never making that much noise. She knew that he was awake. Even though the rain was making everything grey outside, it was obviously past dawn and Daryl never slept past that.

With a mental kick in the butt, Beth finally got herself out of bed, smiling as she didn't even feel the need to cough or blow her nose. Her awful cold had finally seemed to pass and she felt almost as good as new. She suspected that cream of celery soup and Hershey chocolate bars and having a safe bed for the past few days had been the cure.

Coming out of the bedroom, stepping into the kitchen, she felt a cool breeze and saw Daryl standing at the open back door, leaning in the frame, smoking a cigarette and watching the rain fall. She approached him as quietly as she could – which was pretty easy in her thick wool socks – but she knew he heard her anyway. No one had better hearing than Daryl.

She came to stand beside him in the doorway and he looked over to her, dropping his cigarette down immediately to the top patio step. She knew he didn't really like to smoke around her even if she had already told him that he could if he wanted to. They had bigger things to worry about other than secondhand smoke but he didn't seem to agree with her on that.

She didn't comment on it now as they stood side by side, watching the rain fall and fill the collection of buckets she and Daryl had gathered over the past few days. They had set them all out on the patio in hopes that it would rain and give them more drinking water and water for their plants and the plan had finally paid off. Daryl had mentioned more than once that he wanted to go into the woods and see if there was a water spot close by but he hadn't wanted to go too far with her being back here, sick in bed. Maybe now, they could both go and try to find one.

"Got up early this mornin'," Daryl broke the silence between them. "Been workin' on it since the rain started up. Wanna show you."

Beth looked up at him, the unasked question furrowing at her eyebrows, and his lips twitched as if he wanted to smile and he shifted on his feet as if nervous. Without a word, he stepped back from the frame and Beth stepped back, too, so the back door could be closed once more and locked. He led down the small front hallway and she followed him into the house's second bathroom.

"Figured this tub would be better than that huge one in the other bathroom," Daryl said and saw that grey light was pushing through the little window above the toilet and once she saw what Daryl had brought in here to show her, she couldn't help but gasp.

She stared at the water in the tub, hardly able to believe it.

"Ain't a lot," Daryl then shrugged as if what he had done was absolutely no big deal. "Prob'ly won't even come up to cover your knees but didn' wanna waste that much water on this. And it ain't warm either. Tried warming the buckets by the fire so it ain't freezin' but it ain't pipin' hot neither-"

He was talking but all Beth could do was stare at the water in the tub and before he could even finish what he was saying, Beth spun towards him and standing on her toes, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could. He stopped in mid-sentence and stood there for a moment as if he had no idea what to do. She knew he was used to her hugging him. She had done it more than once by now but she also knew that he had absolutely no idea how to react when she did.

And then lightly, she felt his hands coming to a rest on her hips. And Beth squeezed her arms around his neck. She knew he never knew what to do with his hands when she hugged him but his hands on her hips may have been light but they still felt heavy to her. Heavy and warm and she closed her eyes for a moment. Sometimes, they went a couple of days without touching and it made Beth ache for just a little bit of contact because that's who she was. She craved human touch and she admitted she wasn't good on her own and she knew Daryl wasn't like that at all so she always tried to respect his space even though sometimes, she just wanted to grab him and hug him and feel his hands – no matter how light – on her in return.

"Thank you so much, Daryl," she murmured to him softly.

"'s nothin'," he then mumbled and as she finally pulled herself back, she could see the tips of his ears turning red.

She had cut his hair a couple of days before but she hadn't cut much. Just a trim really. Longer hair seemed to suit Daryl quite nicely and honestly, only admitted to herself to never be spoken out loud to anyone, he looked _good_ with longer hair. Real good.

"You get yourself washed up," he said and began edging towards the door as if he had to get out of the small bathroom right then and there and before Beth could say another word to him, he was gone, closing the door behind him.

Beth looked at the door for a moment and then looked down to the water in the tub and a smile she couldn't stop burst across her face.

She was quick to shed her clothes and opening the cabinets beneath the sink, she found a fluffy white towel that smelled a bit musky – but who cared about that – and a washcloth. And then, tugging the rubber band from her hair, she was quick to step into the tub. Daryl was right. The water wasn't warm but she could tell that he had done his best to warm it – the water now a little below lukewarm as it splashed around her.

She found shampoo and conditioner bottles in the corner of the tub and a bar of soap dried to the dish on the wall. She sank herself down on her back and was able to get her hair wet. She then poured a dollop of the shampoo – vanilla scent – into her palm. She wasn't sure how long she scrubbed at her hair but she knew it was longer than just a few minutes. There was really no need to hurry. The water was already cool and it was still raining – she hearing it on the roof above her head – and there wasn't too much to do at the moment with the weather the way it was right now. She could take all of the time in the world, if she wanted.

And she definitely wanted.

Slipping down to her back again, she washed the shampoo from her hair and the soapy suds filled the water before she gave her hair the same treatment with the conditioner. Her hair was getting so long but she couldn't imagine cutting it. She knew that she probably should have. It probably would have been safer so it wouldn't be able to snag onto a tree branch as they ran or grabbed by a walker. But she had always loved her hair. It had always been one of her favorite things about herself and she just couldn't imagine herself with a short bob like Maggie had.

Once her hair was free of dirt and grease and tangles, Beth then took her time, soaping up the wash cloth and then soaping her body up. The bar of soap was a lavender scent and she closed her eyes, smiling to herself, as she ran the cloth all over herself and even sitting in less than four inches of cool water, just being clean made her feel better than she had for a long time. There was even a razor in the corner of the tub and she couldn't help but shave her legs and under her arms.

By the time she finally stepped from the tub, the rain was pounding now and she heard a rumble of thunder and she could just imagine how much water was in all of their buckets outside now. She wrapped the towel around her body and finding a comb in one of the drawers, she looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sink and began combing her hair out. It was amazing what a little bit of soap could do for a person.

Gathering her clothes, she finally left the bathroom and stepped back into the kitchen, immediately finding Daryl on the couch in the family room, sharpening their knives as he tended to do every couple of days.

"Bath's all yours," she smiled.

Daryl lifted his eyes to her and then quickly lowered them to the knife again and she realized that she was only wearing a towel. She felt a blush creep up her neck but she didn't scurry away from him. She was covered. It wasn't as if she was naked in front of him and besides, they had been together for the past sixty-two days. They had heard one another pee, for goodness sake.

"Ain't takin' a bath," he shook his head, not looking up again. "Got the water for you."

Beth knew he wasn't going to take a bath but she hadn't seen the harm in innocently suggesting it. The man seemed perfectly fine with a thin layer of sweat and dirt on his skin. And he certainly looked good with it, too. She nearly shook her head at herself. She wasn't too sure where these thoughts of Daryl were coming from all of a sudden.

"Well, I really think you should take one," she said and that was all she said before she turned and headed back into the bedroom that had become hers and closed the door with a quiet click behind her.

The rain was still pounding and she couldn't hear the walker growling outside but she knew it was still there. No reason for it not to be.

With more scavenging through the other houses, Daryl had been able to find things that she had looked to as a Godsend and still did. Her old jeans had been so worn and torn and dirty, they had practically been able to stand up on their own and when he had come back with another pair for her – a pair that actually fit her – she had gasped and hugged him as if it was Christmas morning.

They both had extra pairs of underwear, too, and she pulled on a – what she assumed was – clean pair and then tugged on the new – new to her – pair of jeans. Her bra had definitely seen better days and she knew that she could probably just go without one but she didn't know if she wanted to not be wearing one around Daryl. Not that she was uncomfortable with him but sometimes, with her new thoughts towards him, she would get a little bit excited and she didn't want him to be able to see that through her shirt.

She then pulled on her wool socks, pulling them up her legs, over her jeans, and slipped on a purple plaid flannel shirt Daryl had found for her. After buttoning the buttons, she left the bedroom, intending on sitting down in front of the fire and drying her hair. When she came out again, Daryl was no longer sitting on the couch and she stood there for a moment, listening for him.

She burst into a smile when she heard splashing of water in the tub and looking down the hall, she saw that the bathroom door was closed.

xxx

They ate their breakfast on the floor in front of the fire, both smelling of vanilla and lavender, the warm flames slowly drying their wet hair, and they shared the granola and spoons of the whipped peanut butter. The rain hadn't let up and Beth couldn't help but think of their other family, still out there somewhere. Here she sat, fresh from an actual bath with food and a fire and a roof over her head and she didn't know where any of them were or if they had been so lucky. Deep down, she couldn't help but doubt it though. Despite her anger at him in the first few days, she knew she was lucky to have gotten out of the prison with Daryl. She meant what she had told him. He was made for how things were now. If any of them could survive, it was the man sitting next to her.

Last man standing.

She swallowed the mouthful of peanut butter in her mouth and looked to Daryl. "Do you think the others have been able to find a place like this?"

Daryl was quiet for a moment, chewing slowly on a mouth of granola. He then shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted and she was grateful to him for always being honest with her. Daryl never sugar-coated things to her and she wondered if he had any idea how important that was to her; that he didn't treat her like a little kid like everyone else had.

"We were lucky to have found this place," he added. "Built up in the middle of nowhere like this."

Beth nodded in agreement. "I bet they were going to build more like it around here before…"

It was his turn to nod. "Fence all 'round us is luck, too. Couldn' find a place like this after the farm. But Rick wasn' really lookin' for a place like this neither. He wanted somethin' better than this."

"This place is perfect," Beth interrupted gently because she knew what Daryl was doing.

After sixty-two days, she knew him pretty damn well – or she liked to think that she did – and she knew that Daryl was telling himself that maybe this wasn't a good enough place. Maybe they should keep moving until they found something else. Something bigger and more protected but they didn't _need_ either of those things. This house was the perfect size for just the two of them and like he said, it had a fence all around them. It might not have been a tall chain-link. It might have just been a wood fence that came up to their stomachs but it was still a fence and so far, it had done exactly what they needed it to do. When Beth went to sleep at night, she didn't feel scared.

They may not have had a lot but they had enough.

"The others ain't stupid," Daryl then said and he turned his head to look at her. "They know how to find a place and make it safe."

Beth nodded in agreement but she couldn't help but wonder. She _hoped_ that everyone in their family was safe and out of this rain. Or maybe, they had all walked far enough away where they weren't all in the same storm right now. Beth admitted that she really hadn't thought of that. She had just assumed that they were all still in Georgia, in the same area, walking circles around one another, never able to find each other but always looking. And though it was apparent that no one was looking for her, surely, they would all be looking for Daryl. They'd be stupid if they just gave up on him.

"I really miss macaroni and cheese," she then said suddenly and completely random.

After a moment, she heard a soft chuckle come from Daryl and she smiled.

"What do you miss?" She asked.

He closed the flap of the granola box and set it aside. They had put rations on everything they ate and each were allowed two handfuls of granola every morning for breakfast. But even with rationing, Beth knew the granola just had a couple of more days until that was gone, too. Daryl just had a few more houses to go through in the subdivision and if the weather was better tomorrow, when he went, Beth would finally go with him.

"Ice cream," Daryl finally answered.

"Yeah?" Beth smiled at that.

He nodded, his own lips twitching a little. "Yeah. Used to have ice cream just 'bout every day if I was able to. Wherever me and Merle wound up, I'd make sure I could get some."

She smiled a bit wider at that, very much liking the image of Daryl eating ice cream cones. "What was your favorite kind?" She asked and she found herself leaning into him a little bit but he didn't seem to notice because Beth had a feeling that if he did, he'd be scooting away from her to keep the same amount of distance between them. And Beth wasn't even going to wonder _why_ she was leaning into him.

After his bath, he had put on some fresh clothes, too. A pair of jeans he had found for himself and a black hooded sweatshirt. She wouldn't think Daryl would ever wear something like that but they were beggars and they couldn't be choosers and it looked warm. And just like everything else with Daryl, Beth was beginning to realize, he looked _good_ wearing it.

"Loved Choco-tacos," he said and his lips were twitching even more. He definitely wanted to smile and she wished he just would. The couple of times she had seen him actually do it, his entire face relaxed and he looked so handsome. "Mint Oreo blizzards from DQ. Those chocolate chip cookie sandwiches with the vanilla ice cream-"

"Stop," Beth then said, laughing a little, and she saw that he was finally smiling. A little one but a smile nonetheless. "Stop. You're making my mouth water."

She leaned into her book bag, nearby and always packed and ready to go, and pulled out one of the candy bars stashed from within. They were each allowed one tiny square a day and she took the bar, pulling back the foil wrapping and holding it for him to take.

"This is all I can offer you right now," she then said with a softened smile.

And Daryl looked down at the chocolate bar for a second before his eyes lifted to look into hers. Beth felt a tightening in her stomach and she wasn't sure where it came from because it wasn't as if Daryl had never looked at her before. She did her best to swallow, her throat suddenly feeling incredibly dry for some reason.

Daryl reached and broke off a square for himself and his eyes went back to hers, looking into her eyes and nothing else and Beth wondered why the fire was making the room feel like a furnace room all of sudden.

"'s more than enough," he said in that low gravelly voice of his and despite the heat she felt now breaking out in little beads across her skin, she felt like shivering.

xxx

It rained the rest of the day. All day and without much of a break. She didn't mind the rain though and not just because it helped mask their living smells to walkers. She liked being dry and safe inside of a house and she felt the sounds of raining hitting the roof to almost be relaxing in its own way. She just wished it was warmer out now so she and Daryl could have already planted their garden.

Instead, though, she was in the living room where there was a window that faced east and on the windowsill, she had their plants lined up, which she watered now. She couldn't wait until it _was_ warm enough and she and Daryl could start working on getting their garden set up and they would have green beans, tomatoes and squash growing.

A part of her wasn't too sure why she was planning on doing something that probably wouldn't happen for at least a couple of months. She knew Daryl said they would stay here until she felt better but now that she was better, it didn't seem like either of them were in too big of a hurry to leave this place. She was making plans for spring – of a garden and how else they could make their life a little bit easier here when the weather was warmer – and she knew that Daryl was probably making plans himself like that.

It wasn't as if she was giving up on finding their family. Not at all. But she had been thinking lately. Maybe the reason none of them could find one another was because they were constantly moving. Maybe if she and Daryl just stayed in one place for a while, someone else from their family would stumble upon them then. Beth wasn't going to lose hope. They'd find one another one of these days. She knew it. Just right now, she and Daryl needed to rest. They had been moving without stopping for the past sixty-two days and they were exhausted. Daryl especially.

She hummed a soft song to herself as she watered the vegetable cans with water from one of the plastic bottles they had and when she got to the cans with the tomato seeds at the end of the sill, she stopped and after another moment of staring, she gasped. She quickly and carefully grabbed the three cans and hurried from the living room, down the hall, coming up on the family room where Daryl sat on the floor, going over the supplies he had gathered for them from the houses over the past few days. All things considering, the haul was impressive.

Without a word, Beth dropped down to her knees in front of him and Daryl lifted his eyes to look at her, curiously. Still, not speaking, she set the three cans down so he could see for himself. And he knew within a second why she had brought these to show him. He stared at the small green little buds successfully pushing through the soil and he smirked a little, shaking his head as if amazed. And when he lifted his head again to look at him, Beth burst into her own smile.

"They're really growing," she then said, sounding breathless to her ears.

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then shook his head slightly as if he still couldn't quite believe it that the seeds had actually taken. "I think we're gonna be a'right here for a while."

And Beth's smile somehow grew in size and without another word, she leaned over the plants and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly for the second time that day. And this time, after a long moment, she felt Daryl's hand – warm and heavy and light all at the same time as it always was – on her back, between her shoulder blades. Beth smiled to herself and closed her eyes, pressing her nose to his sweatshirt and wanting to hold onto him for as long as she could.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

xxx

 **Chapter Seven.**

"Beth!" Daryl called her name out and listened for a moment to her moving around in the bedroom across the hall as his eyes scanned the bookshelf in the little room he was in. "That author we've been readin'. Wha's her name?"

"Susanna Kearsley!" Beth called back and Daryl had thought that's what it was.

He grabbed the three paperbacks by the author from the shelf, figuring Beth could read from these at night as they sat by the fire, and taking them, along with the few other random things he had managed to find, he dumped them into his backpack and left the room, heading across the hall into the big master bedroom where Beth was.

He looked at her for a moment with a furrowed brow. "You been doin' that all day," he then said, having watched her do the same in the other two houses they had been through already that morning.

The walls had a white wood paneling that went about half-way up and then the rest of the wall was painted up to the ceiling and Beth walked around the room, pressing onto each panel. He wondered if she was looking for another hidden spot like she had found in that first kitchen with the rice.

"Yep," Beth said, not stopping.

Walk to a panel, press against it, nothing happening so moving onto the next panel, repeat. Daryl stood in the doorway and watched her. It was another thing she had seen on that Pinterest website she had told him about. She didn't know if people here knew anything about stuff like that but she said there was no harm in trying. She said with how some of these houses looked on the outside, it made sense they would have an attic of some kind. They just hadn't found doors or stairs that led up to one.

"Find anything good?" She asked as she kept pressing against the walls.

"Not much left to pick through. Got some more books for us to read," he answered and saw her smile at that.

Girl was stubborn as hell. He couldn't imagine any of these walls leading to anything like it was some castle with hidden rooms but Beth was determined and he silently liked that about her. No matter how she sometimes probably wanted to, girl just never sat down and gave up about anything. Girl fought to push herself – and him – forward.

"And then half a tube of toothpaste, a box of Kleenex and a lil' container of cinnamon," he finished.

Beth laughed at that. "That's a new one."

She went to the panel in the far corner of the room and pressed on it and if he hadn't seen it actually happen, Daryl knew he probably would have had a hard time believing it. She pushed on it and it popped back – just by a couple of centimeters but it actually opened and it surprised Beth, too, because she stood there, staring at it as if she couldn't quite believe that this had actually worked.

"Alrigh'," Daryl said, snapping out of it a moment later and dropping his bag on the bed, he pulled his crossbow into his arms, aiming it towards the panel.

Beth pulled her knife from the sheath, gripping it, and then looked back to Daryl, who nodded at her. She took a deep breath and then pushed the panel open, it swinging open like a little door. She peered inside but didn't crawl in.

"There's no light."

"Use one of the matches," he told her, he finger still paused over the bow's trigger.

Beth seemed to hesitate, as if she didn't want to waste one of the few precious matches that they had managed to find in those tins in the basement of their house, but finally, as if deciding that a match would be worth it if there was something of use that laid just in the darkness inside the wall, Beth reached into her pocket and pulled the book of matches out, striking and lighting one.

She slowly dropped down to her knees and crawled near the opening and Daryl was right behind her, bow aimed and ready. She took a deep breath and moved closer, peering inside, bringing the match in with her. He knew there weren't any walkers. They had already cleared the house of the three downstairs and they hadn't been exactly quiet since then. If there had been a walker in the wall, it would have made a noise by now but still, his finger never left the trigger.

"It's a crawlspace. Small but…" Beth reported back to him and then trailed off and she moved completely through the space in the wall, into whatever was behind it. "Daryl," she then gasped his name but it wasn't said in a fearful tone.

Slowly, Daryl brought his crossbow down and approached the opening, crouching down and looking in past her shoulder. The match was burning lower but not before he got a look at what was inside. Inside, there were a few plastic bins but one in particular got his immediate attention; the one Beth was staring at to. It was large and clear plastic and labeled with a piece of tape across the front.

 _ **DOOMSDAY KIT**_

He stared at it, understanding the words he was reading but not really believing it. He knew the people who had ransacked these homes already had no way of knowing to check behind walls for things. Who the hell would think that? If he didn't have Beth with him, he never would have thought to look between the walls.

It was almost too good to be true. Everything in the past few days had been too good to be true, it felt like. It took them fifty-four days of eating snake and sleeping in dirt and running from herds and getting drunk and screaming at each other and starting fires and running some more but finally, after fifty-four days, they found this place and things had started to slowly turn around for them – once Beth had gotten better.

Daryl didn't want to get his hopes up. The last time he did that, someone had literally rolled a tank over it all, and he wasn't going to make that same mistake twice. But here, with the house and the fence and the fireplace and the container of rice and the extra clothes and the buckets of water and their tomato plants and now this – a fucking kit that was put together specifically for the end of the world – Daryl felt the tiniest pull in his stomach that allowed him to start thinking that maybe, _maybe_ , it would be good here for them for a while.

They didn't even open it. Beth blew out the match and then just leaned forward, grabbing hold of it and pulling it across the floor, out of the crawlspace and back into the bedroom, and he lifted one end and she lifted the other and they carried it out of the bedroom, stopping only for Daryl to put his backpack back on.

"We'll come back later to take a look through those other bins," Daryl said as they made their way down the stairs and headed back outside.

"Sounds like a plan," Beth readily agreed.

They were near the entrance of the subdivision and they walked along the curving sidewalks, passing the houses he – or they – had already been through. They were both quiet, both listening to the matching quiet around them. Sometimes, it made Daryl nervous how quiet it was. Yeah, he knew this place was a bit away from things – in the woods like this – and he knew Beth was right. It seemed like this place was built with the intention of building more just like it around here but the world ending tended to halt construction. It had one of those stupid names that made no sense for the area it was in. This particular one was called St. George's Crossing – whatever the hell that meant.

This place wasn't like the prison – all of those living bodies behind the fences, driving the walkers crazy. No. He and Beth were just two people and they wouldn't attract swarms of walkers at their fences. They picked off two or three every morning at the fence around the house and they hardly saw any more throughout the rest of the day. And as for people, he hadn't seen any since the man in the backyard days earlier.

He didn't know how he and Beth came upon this place but he hoped they would be the only ones. Maybe it was so far out of the way or people saw it and didn't think it would be anything much so they kept on moving.

Fine with him though that they couldn't see how good this place could be. All the better for him and Beth and the rest of the world leaving them alone for a bit. He knew she wanted to keep looking for their family. He wanted that, too, but right now, they needed to just rest. Before finding this place, it had been fifty four days of constantly moving and never having a safe place to lay their head. Here, they had a roof and a fence and food and water from the rain and snow and now, they had something called a Doomsday Kit that could only help their survival along.

They'd be stupid if they just left this place right now.

He just hoped Beth thought the same thing because if she didn't, if she wanted to leave this place, Daryl knew he'd leave with her and go anywhere she wanted to go next.

xxx

He had heard of these kinds of people. The people who were so convinced the end of the world was coming at any time so they better get themselves prepared. But seeing as how Beth and him had killed three walkers in that house, they hadn't been prepared enough from the looks of it.

They placed the bin in the family room and then walked back to the house once again to check out the crawlspace for other things. There was a box of family photos – which Beth was quick to push to the furthest end of the crawlspace – and then another box labeled _wedding dress_ , which received the same treatment from Beth as the photos. The final box was labeled _clothes_ and Beth pulled that one out to take with them. Daryl grabbed hold of it and carried it out of the room before she could protest. He could imagine her glaring at him but he didn't care. She may have seemed better but she wasn't completely well and he needed her to keep her strength.

When they got back to the house, it wasn't even a discussion. Daryl set the box of clothes down, Beth made sure the door was locked and they both sat down beside one another, the doomsday kit in front of them.

Daryl turned his head and looked at her. "Wanna do it?" He asked.

"Hell, yeah," she smiled at him and he smiled a little, too, because for just a second, they were back in the woods, ready to light some shit on fire.

He watched as she unclasped the two locks and together, they pushed the lid open and once they saw everything that was inside, they both fell completely still and silent.

But then slowly, they began to go through it. He didn't know how long it took. At least a couple of hours because the light in the room moved, moving the shadows across the walls and floor. But neither he nor Beth really noticed because they were too consumed with going through the kit. The kit that was going to save their lives; was going to keep them alive for so many more days and nights. He had never seen anything like this and he thought of all of the times they could have used exactly this. Not just him and Beth but their whole family. Rick would have killed more than one person for this kit.

They pulled everything out and began separating it into categories. Water, food, hardware. A dozen bottles of water as well as a packet of coffee filters. "To help purify water if we find some and need to," Beth explained to him when Daryl had given them a questioning look. A collapsible bucket, cans of tuna and beans, more rice, a bottle of honey, a couple more blankets, matches, a flashlight with extra packs of rechargeable batteries, a solar battery charger, pairs of socks, pairs of thick work gloves, duct tape, a small pup tent, a first-aid kit, a large hunting knife and sheath, a box of tampons, zip-ties, rope, bolt cutters, and last but not least, a bottle of hand sanitizer.

By the time they reached the bottom and everything was out of the box, Beth was in tears but Daryl wasn't concerned because she was smiling and laughing and he knew exactly why. It was overwhelming. He tried to think of having seeing something better since this whole damn thing started. Maybe coming down the train tracks and seeing the prison for the first time with Rick. There had been things since then but nothing like that and things he couldn't even remember anymore. Not like this. He looked down at everything they now had and then at Beth and he knew he'd always remember this.

And it was because of her that they had this now. Her going around, pressing on walls. He had been through countless houses, searching for supplies, and he had never even thought of things being hidden behind walls.

Beth laughed and wiped at her cheeks and gave him the most brilliant smile, he felt himself smiling in return.

And she leaned over then, turning towards him, and her arms slid around his shoulders and he felt her exhale a soft warm breath on his neck as she hugged him. This time, Daryl hesitated for only a moment before he rested his hands on her back – his version of hugging her back. He was getting more used to this, he guessed. Beth was a touchy person. She liked having physical contact with people and Daryl had flinched any time she had come too close to him. But it hadn't been like that for a while now. Maybe since the serious piggy back ride outside of the funeral home or maybe even before that.

She sighed again and tightened her arms around him and Daryl felt like closing his eyes so he did. She still smelled like that lavender soap from the bathroom and he couldn't help but inhale her scent but making sure Beth didn't know that he was doing it.

He knew what he had to do. He'd always known it. For the past sixty-three days. Even when he wasn't talking to her. He knew he would do anything to keep her safe and alive. And now, they had this place. They had plants and food and now all of this supplies and he had Beth and Daryl knew that he'd kill absolutely anyone to keep everything as safe as it was right now.

xxx

On day sixty-four, he woke up and for a moment – just a moment – Daryl forgot where he was. For some reason, he thought he would wake up back in his cell in the prison. But what he was lying on was too soft to be that paper-thin mattress on the hard metal bunk. And he heard the crackling of fire wood popping in the fireplace hearth across the room and felt the heat from the flames, making him almost too hot. He didn't get up though. Besides the fire, he could hear Beth. She was awake and in the family room with him, humming softly, unaware that he was awake.

Daryl turned his head on the pillow and took the chance to just look at her for a moment without her knowing it. She was going through the box of clothes, folding some and making two piles – for him and for her – or tossing others back into the box, seeing no use for them. He saw her unfold a dress – dark blue and flowy with little white flowers on it – and she held it up for a moment, her humming trailing off as she looked at it. He didn't know how long she held it, probably imagining herself wearing it, and Daryl found himself picturing it, too. She'd probably look real pretty in that dress.

No, not probably. Beth _would_ look real pretty wearing that. He knew that for a fact.

He wasn't an idiot. He knew Beth was a pretty girl but that was the problem, wasn't it? She was just a girl. Twenty years old. Maybe even still nineteen. And he wasn't. Far from it. He had lost count of how old he was anymore but it was nowhere near twenty. Sometimes, like this morning, he would up with his bones aching and he felt like an old man. A man too damn old for a girl like Beth Greene, that was for damn sure.

No. He'd protect her and keep her safe and that'd be more than enough.

They weren't living in a world anymore though where wearing dresses made sense and after another moment, Beth folded the dress back up and returned it to the box. She had stopped humming and she didn't start up again as she began going through the rest of the clothes and Daryl suddenly felt a heaviness in his chest because he found himself wishing that they did live in that kind of world where Beth could wear whatever damn dress she wanted to.

Deciding he looked long enough, he began pushing the blanket off of him. "Hey," he grunted a greeting and Beth instantly looked at him, smiling at him, her moment of sadness completely gone from her face.

"Good morning. I was hoping you'd sleep a little longer. You need it," she said.

"Mmmm," Daryl said but didn't comment on that. He didn't need that much sleep. A couple of hours every night and he was good to go for the day. Since getting here though, he must have felt safe because he started sleeping at least five.

"Do you want some breakfast?" She asked as he sat up and tugged his boots on and tied the laces up and she was already moving towards their bin of food.

That was another thing. He actually slept without his boots on here. He didn't know if that was smart or not. He didn't know if he was getting too comfortable and he thought of how he had gotten comfortable at the prison and how that had turned out. But he couldn't help it. It was quiet here and the thing was, he was starting to feel safe here.

"Here," Beth said as she came in front of him, holding the box of granola. "Last of it."

He frowned at that. "You eat your share?"

"Yep." She flashed him a smile. "I've been up a while. I was so excited with everything yesterday, I couldn't sleep anymore. There were two walkers at the fences and I killed them and it's been snowing since a little bit before dawn so I've put the buckets back on the patio. We'll get them filled with snow and then bring them in to melt for water."

Daryl wondered how the hell he hadn't heard her do any of that. Normally, he was a light sleeper – waking up at the slightest sound. Been that way ever since he was a kid. He had liked to always know where his old man was in the house. But apparently, being here with Beth, not only did he sleep without his shoes on, he was a heavy sleeper now.

He slid from the couch and sat down on the floor, eating the few handfuls of granola left and watching as Beth finished sorting through the clothes. He couldn't believe that he was going to miss this stuff; so sure he would hate it when Beth first showed him the box. Nothing but horse food, he had thought, but he had realized it wasn't all that bad, and he wondered if there was another box of granola somewhere else left in the world.

He'd try and find some more now that he know how much Beth loved it.

"'ve been thinkin' that I need to go huntin'," he said.

"Alright," she smiled at that. "Too bad we don't have any more Shake-and-Bake."

He smirked a little at that. Made that squirrel taste damn good, he couldn't deny that.

He fell quiet as he ate the rest of his breakfast and she had begun humming again, folding the last shirt she had.

"The man who lived in that house was a little bit bigger than you," she said.

He shrugged. "'ll make it work."

She picked up the pile of clothes and held it out for him to take and he leaned forward, taking it from her hands into his, trying to ignore how their fingertips touched as they did so. She had been sitting by the fire and her hands were warm and so damn soft and he quickly moved his hands away, ashamed for realizing those things about her.

In a few more minutes, he was ready to go. He was still wearing that hooded sweatshirt and a jacket and his vest, armed with a couple of knives and his bow. Beth walked him to the backdoor and the snow was still falling, coating everything in a growing thick white blanket. And with the snow, it made the rest of the world seem different. First snow and then rain and then snow again. Was like the world wasn't too sure if it was ready for spring or still wanted to hold onto winter for a little while longer.

He looked back to Beth. "Lock this behind me," he told her even though he knew she would and she gave him a patient smile, nodding her head.

"Be safe," she said and then stood up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Wasn't even really a kiss. Was just like the way he had kissed her forehead. Was almost like it was some sort of reflex between them.

He blinked at her and her cheeks were noticeably pinker now but she still looked at him and smiled and with a nod of his head, Daryl turned and was able to leave. And just a second later, he heard the door close behind him and the lock bolt back into place and he exhaled a deep breath as he headed across the backyard, ignoring the clench in his stomach or the way he still smelled lavender in his nostrils.

xxx

As soon as his bolt sank into the rabbit with a satisfying _thunk_ , he went to collect the bolt and his and Beth's dinner and headed back home. It was still snowing though it was nothing more than flurries now and the sun was getting lower in the sky. He hadn't liked leaving Beth alone at the house for so long – almost an entire day – but he had been tracking the rabbit and just the thought of taking it home to Beth for dinner tonight, he hadn't wanted to give up.

As he came through the trees, coming upon the back of their house, everything was quiet but he knew instantly that something was wrong. Instead of one set of tracks – his – leading from the house to the woods, there were two sets of tracks, leading from the woods to the house.

Every ounce of blood in his body turned cold and he gripped the bow in his hands, staring up at the house, trying to hear a single sound coming from it. _Beth_. He swore he heard her name on the wind blowing around him. Beth. He had to get to her and he couldn't even imagine what was going on in their house or who's prints these were. His mind instantly jumped to several situations he could imagine a girl like Beth being in when left alone and with the way people were now…

His fingers gripped the bow so tightly, he felt the strain in his knuckles. Instantly dropping down lower, he began creeping across the grass towards the back fence. He heard the snarl of a walker coming from his left and holding the bow with his right, he took his knife out with his left, standing up to stab the walker before dropping down again, keeping the knife out.

Whoever was inside, they better hope Beth was still alive because they had no idea what Daryl Dixon was capable of doing to them.

They were about to find out though.

xxx

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 **I know someone with a doomsday kit and it's both cool and kind of scary at the same time.**

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to comment!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I really struggled with this chapter because I've never written something like this and I can't thank those enough on tumblr who tried to help and talk me through this. I was thinking about cutting this out and replace it with something else but I had to write it as this will help push the story into its next stage. But I'm still nervous about this one.  
**

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xxx

 **Chapter Eight.**

All Beth could do was sit in the corner where they had told her to stay and her head was throbbing from where they slugged her and she felt blood on her cheek and she called herself an idiot over and over again. She should have been on alert. She should have been more careful. She never should have allowed herself to let her guard down. She shouldn't care how quiet it was here or how safe she felt. She should know by now.

She'd never be safe.

She hadn't heard them coming. All she knew was she had gone outside to empty some of the buckets of snow into the deep Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom where they were keeping all of their water from rain and snow alike and she had left the back door open. They must had been watching her because when she came back from the bedroom, just a few minutes later, they were there.

They had surprised her, catching her off guard, and before her fingers could even grab the handle of her knife, one of the men grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"Now, why you gonna do that?" He asked and she couldn't help but wince at his tight grip no matter how badly she wanted to show them that they weren't scaring her. "My friend here and me are jus' lookin' for a place to lay our heads down for a lil' bit. Why don't you wanna be a good hostess to us? We're mighty tired and you're lookin' like you're doin' alright for yourself."

Beth clamped her jaw shut tightly and didn't say a word. They would never hear her voice. She could just imagine how furious Daryl would be with her when he got back. She was so stupid to have left the door open – even for a moment. First getting sick and now this. As if she needed to give Daryl any more evidence of just how much weaker than him she was no matter how hard she tried to keep up with him.

She didn't dare look to the corner and perhaps catch the two men's attention to it. Earlier, she and Daryl had moved the doomsday kit to the corner of the room, between the couch and the wall, hiding it out of sight.

There were two men – one tall and lean with greasy hair – long like Daryl's was and some sort of mix between red and blonde. The other was a bit shorter and a bit rounder with thinning dark hair and a beard of the same color. They almost reminded her of the pair of comedic pirates from the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie – though she doubted very much they were here for comedic relief. It was the shorter one who gripped her wrist now and Beth worried that he might break it. What would she do if he broke it? Would it be able to fixed again?

"Where's your supplies?" The man asked, putting his lips close to her ear, tightening his hold even more and Beth grimaced this time. She wasn't able to help herself. "Huh? You lookin' good. Clean. I know you've got a stash somewhere in here. You gonna tell me?" With his other hand, he gripped her face and forcibly turned it towards him so Beth had to look at him.

And she knew it was stupid. She knew it was before she even did it but she didn't care. She didn't know if these men were going to kill her or not – and that doing this might just kill her right this second but she didn't care about it because she had to do _something_. It was her fault they were in here and she couldn't make it easy for them.

Beth reeled her head back and spit straight in the man's eye.

She wasn't surprised when he hit her in the face immediately and she was left dazed as he then pushed her to the floor in the corner near the fireplace.

"Don't you fuckin' move," he growled at her.

He then leaned over her and ripped her knife from her sheath, leaving her defenseless. She watched as he then went to the leaner man and they talked in low voices for a moment but her head was still spinning and their voices were nothing more than murmurs to her; as if they were underwater and she understood nothing they said.

She wondered where Daryl was. She wondered if he was near or if he was still somewhere, too far off in the woods to hear her if she was to scream. Sometimes, he would track an animal's path with little realization of how much time had passed. He could be gone for hours still. Or even until tomorrow. And if he didn't come back until tomorrow, she knew it would be too late for her.

She began looking around as discreetly as she could for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was the large hunting knife still in the kit across the room but she didn't dare move for it. She wanted to keep that kit hidden for as long as possible.

There was nothing near the fireplace. The poker had long been taken by someone else to be used as a weapon and Daryl and her had been stoking the fire with random sticks. A stick wouldn't do too much damage against these two men.

 _Please God. Don't let them find the kit_ , Beth swiftly and silently prayed to herself as her eyes still scanned her surroundings. But the man had shoved her into a corner with nothing near her that seemed like it would be very helpful to her in this moment. Daryl always made sure she had her knife on her but neither had thought of what to do if she found herself without it. She had no idea how to defend herself. She always meant to ask Daryl to show her things like that but she always thought there was more time. She should have known better than to think anything like that.

And since Daryl had never offered either, maybe he had thought the same thing.

"Well, lookie here!" The shorter man suddenly exclaimed and Beth instantly whipped her eyes back to them to see what they had found.

They had found one of their backpacks and inside, they had found that container of rice she had found in that kitchen in the first house and the first day they had come here.

He held it up triumphantly and then grinned at Beth. "Knew you were holdin' out on us, darlin'," he said but she kept her face as impassive as possible. They still didn't know about the kit. They hadn't looked around the room yet. If they took that rice, there was still the much larger supply of rice – and tuna and other food – in the kit for Daryl.

"Looks like we're goin' to be eatin' more than tree bark for once," the shorter man said, still grinning, holding up the container of rice and staring at it in amazement and Beth wondered how the man could still have such a belly on him if all he ate was tree bark.

The other man though – the leaner one – was staring at her though and it made her stomach knot nervously as she lowered her eyes, looking to the floor. She didn't like the way he was staring at her; as if he was a man starving and not for the rice they found.

 _Please, God_ , Beth began praying once more. _Please keep me safe_.

The shorter man sighed. "Fine. But make it quick. I ain't stayin' here for too long."

With that, he kept the rice in his arms and went to go stand by the backdoor as if keeping watch. Beth raised her eyes to see the leaner man still staring at her, approaching her slowly. Her stomach tightened even more and her throat went dry.

She shook her head. "No." She spoke for the first time and it only made the leaner one smile as he closed the distance between them.

She could run to the front door. She could run past them and make it to the front door. She was a fast runner. She could get out of here. She could.

She tried to get to her feet and scramble away from the man but he was so much faster than she expected. Or maybe he was just that desperate and he wasn't going to let her get away from him.

His hands shot out, stopping her and he pushed her back to the ground. She cried out as she fell, her elbows cracking on the hardwood floor. But she wasn't going to stop. She tried to kick at him but he was grinning now, as if he was enjoying this like it was a game or he just liked that she was trying to fight him off.

He was lean but he was so strong and he was able to pin her legs down. She still tried though. She tried to wiggle and still kick him as his body loomed over hers. She felt tears stinging the back of her eyes but she didn't stop trying to get him off of her.

"No!" She screamed again as he leaned down and grabbing her fists pounding against his chest, he was able to pin them down above her hand with one of his, trapping her.

She screamed. She didn't care if it brought a herd of walkers crashing down that fence. She'd rather be gutted and torn apart by a herd than this.

But then the man's mouth was covering hers, cutting her scream off as he kissed her, pressing himself down on top of her. She wanted to throw up but that could come later. Right now, she had to do something else.

"Bitch!" The man shouted as he tore his mouth from hers and sat up across her thighs. His bottom lip was bleeding from where she had bit him and she glared up at him, hoping he couldn't see how scared she was or feel how she was shaking beneath him.

He slapped her across the face – his hand making impact with the cheek that the shorter one had already struck and she knew that if she survived all of this, her face was going to be bruised tomorrow.

No. Not if. She _would_ survive this. She was going to make it.

She thought of Maggie then. Beth had never found out exactly what Maggie had gone through when taken hostage at Woodbury or what the Governor had done to her. Maggie never confided in her – or anyone – about it but she remembered how quiet Maggie was afterwards so they could all guess. But Maggie had gotten herself through it and Beth was a Greene, too. She could be as strong as her sister.

The man was staring at her and then with his free hand, he went to her jeans, pulling at the button, trying to pop it open one-handed and Beth tried to wiggle and move her hips to make it harder for him. He was smiling again though as if he liked the challenge.

"Hurry up, will 'ya?" The shorter one growled, still at the door.

Beth tried so hard to keep struggling. To not hear zipper of her jeans being lowered. To not feel the man on top of her, exhaling on her face, whispering to her that she was going to love this so much and was only going to beg him for more once he was done. She tried to get her hands free but his hand held both her wrists so tightly, she knew she would have more bruises there, too.

The man was now trying to undo his own jeans but he stopped suddenly at the sound of something hitting the ground behind them and they both turned their heads towards the back door. The container of rice had dropped to the ground and the shorter man was no longer there. Beth stared at the empty space where he had been just a moment ago and something got lighter in her chest. Daryl. It had to be Daryl. He had come back.

And then he was there, standing in the back doorway and Beth saw him fling something – a knife. Straight into the back of the man on top of her. The man jerked forward and he frowned as if he wasn't too sure what had just happened. And then after a moment, he began to fall forward, his mind finally registering it, falling right on top of her, his body knocking the wind out of her.

With her hands free, she tried to push the body from her and then it was gone and Daryl was kneeling next to her. He had rolled the man off of her and she was able to breathe. He looked at her and she looked at him and she didn't know what to say to him right then and she couldn't decide what his expression was. It was dark; furious. She had never seen his eyes that dark before.

Daryl didn't say anything to her because the man groaned then, still alive, taking Daryl's attention off of her and putting it onto him once again. Daryl stood up and forced the man up, too, the man groaning as Daryl ripped the knife out of his back.

"'m not doin' this inside," Daryl growled and Beth wasn't sure if it was to her or the man or maybe Daryl was saying it to both of them.

Beth could see Daryl drag the man to the back door and just as he was about to push him outside, she watched as Daryl dragged his knife across the man's throat from behind, slitting it open, blood dripping down onto the patio steps and then Daryl pushed the now lifeless body outside. He disappeared outside after him for a moment, probably to stab him in the head to keep him from turning, and then he stepped back inside.

Beth tried to zip her jeans back up and button them once more but her fingers were shaking so badly, she couldn't do it. Daryl saw her struggling and without a word, he came and knelt beside her and gently pushing her hands away, he zipped and buttoned her jeans up for her himself and the fear and adrenaline of the past few minutes was disappearing now and her body began shaking – terrible visible shakes and she closed her eyes as she felt tears flooding them.

She felt Daryl's hand then – warm and heavy – as always but gentle. So gentle. On her shoulder and he was saying her name in that soft voice he sometimes used.

"Come here," he then said and she felt his arms beneath her, lifting her up from the floor, and she felt the comforting hardness and warmth of his body and as he stood up with her in his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

The tears were loose and she couldn't stop them.

Her body shook as she cried against his neck. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she kept saying again and again because she knew he was going to be so angry with her for letting two men get inside of their house and she knew she had been stupid and careless and he had to come and save her again.

And Daryl stood in the middle of the family room, holding her in his arms as she kept crying against his neck and he didn't say a word.

xxx

Beth woke up on day sixty-five in the bed in the master bedroom off the kitchen. She didn't really remember Daryl carrying her here and she didn't remember falling asleep. She woke up now and her entire body was sore. Her face, her wrists, her body from where the man had sat on it to keep her still. She shivered then as if she was cold but Daryl had made sure to cover her with the blankets last night so she wouldn't be.

She laid there and tried to hear where he was in the house. She remembered him telling her the night before that he was never leaving her alone again and she had squeezed her arms around his neck in response. She normally would have made a quip to him about how she didn't need a babysitter but she wasn't going to stay that right now. Not when just the _thought_ of being alone again made her body start to shake all over again.

She then heard hammering from somewhere inside the house and she slowly sat up. Her head was pounding like a jackhammer from a construction site and her whole body screamed at her to lay back down but she was just going to ignore it. She caught site of her reflection in the mirror attached to the dresser in the room and she winched once she saw herself. As suspected, the entire left side of her face was bruised.

She walked to the dresser and did her best to pull out the rubber band from her hair as gently as possible and using the soft-bristle brush there, she brushed out the tangles gently as well so she wouldn't tug on her head and make herself wince more. She put her hair up once more into a ponytail and she then leaned closer to the mirror, touching her bruises on her face as gently as she could with the pads of her fingers. No matter how lightly she tried to do it though, she winced and pain exploded from her nerves.

She exhaled a shaky breath and pulled herself back, looking away from the mirror, not able to look at herself anymore. She sat down on the bench at the foot of the bed and tugged on her boots over her wool socks and left the room, following the hammering.

She found Daryl in the living room. He had already hammered at least three boards across all of the windows and was now working on the window between the living room and dining room, using the nails from the kit he had found in one of the houses and she could see the boards were pieces torn from other things around the neighborhood.

Without a word, she went and her hands held up the board he was holding in place with one hand as he hammered with the other. He looked to her but neither of them said anything and he pulled his hand back so it would be easier to hold the nails into place.

"Should be in bed," he grunted to her once the board was put in place.

He turned and gathered the third board to put over the bottom of the window. She held this one for him as he began hammering and she didn't give him a response. She was tired of being in bed. She was staying in bed too much and it was time she started to pull her weight around here just like him. He did too much and she had to do too much, too. She was not going to be dead weight to him.

With the two of them, they were able to board up the rest of the dining room windows in no time.

"We'll get to the windows in the bedrooms and family room next," he said and she nodded and she wondered why it had taken them so long to fortify this place once they both had the feeling that they would be staying here for a little bit.

But deep down, she knew. It was the same reason as to why both had started sleeping with their boots off. It was because it was quiet here and they had felt safe. She knew neither of them were going to make those mistakes again. They could make this a home, yes, but they were never going to let their guard down. They couldn't afford to ever do that. They always did that and they were always chased off. The farm. The prison. Not this place though. Beth was determined to make this a place for them to stay for a long time and they should have done this as soon as she wasn't sick anymore.

"Already did the front door," he said. "Boarded it up from the outside so we can still open it up from inside here and left space at the bottom so we can crawl out if we need to," he told her as Beth looked around. With two or three boards across each window, the sun was still able to get through the slits in between and she was glad for that.

"You should have woken me so I could have helped," she told him, looking back to him, and she found that his eyes were already settled on her.

She casually turned her head so the left side of her face was hidden from his view.

"Where did you get this wood?" She asked.

"Couldn' sleep so I've been 'round here, rippin' apart the other fences people got," he said and she nodded, looking down to the pile.

They'd have enough for the family room and maybe the smaller of the two bedrooms but they would have to go out and get more for the master bedroom.

"And then after this, we'll take a look at the fence and see what we can do to make that stronger, too," he said as he picked up some of the wood and headed into the family room and picking up the rest of the wood, Beth followed him.

They were quiet as they got back to work and she could feel Daryl's eyes on her every few minutes but she didn't look at him and she didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say to him. She had apologized so much yesterday for what had happened and she didn't know if she could again. She wanted to ask him what he had done with the two bodies but she knew it really didn't matter. As long as they were dead and weren't coming back as walkers, she didn't care what he did with them.

She could close her eyes and remember how furious Daryl had been and how viciously he had cut that man's throat and she had never seen him that angry or violent before and she knew in this new world, Daryl had to be like that sometimes. Beth just hated that it was because of her that he had to be.

Daryl was quiet, too, and she knew that unless she talked, he wouldn't talk either. He wasn't the sort to start conversations. That was her job. She just didn't feel like it today.

But then, after finishing with the window behind the couch, Daryl let the hammer hang down loosely at his side and his eyes were settled on her once again.

"You hungry?" He asked. "You haven' eaten for a while. Was able to hunt a rabbit down last night. Was thinkin' we could have it for lunch."

Beth's stomach rolled at just the thought of eating anything – even rabbit and she had found she absolutely loved rabbit roasted over the fire. She could still taste that man's rough kiss in her mouth and she hadn't thrown up yet and was still waiting to.

She shook her head slowly and didn't say anything. She turned away from him again.

She couldn't stand the way Daryl was looking at her right now; as if he was waiting for her to break down. Well, she already had and she would be sure she wouldn't break down again. She was tired of breaking down and being weak and letting him see her cry and how she couldn't protect herself. No matter how many times she claimed, she really couldn't take care of herself. Against walkers, yes, but not against the people still alive.

And the people still alive and left in this world were far worse than any walker. She supposed she always knew that – and she instantly thought of her daddy – but now she had experienced it – personally – for herself and she knew that when she died – when and not if – it would be from the hands of a person and not a walker because she wasn't strong enough to do anything about it when that time came.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review! I can't thank you enough for those who have been showing support for this story.  
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	9. Chapter 9

**I cannot thank you all who have been reading and commenting this story. I was worried that a story with just Beth and Daryl chapter after chapter would start to get boring but I'm really loving writing this and I'm so happy that you are really loving it, too!**

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xxx

 **Chapter Nine.**

She wasn't talking much and Daryl wasn't sure if he should maybe force her into talking but he knew he couldn't do that. He wasn't much for talking – that was Beth's thing – and he didn't want to force her into talking just because it was what _he_ wanted. This was about Beth and what she needed and maybe what she needed right now was just to be quiet for a while.

She didn't sleep in the big bedroom anymore by herself. There were two couches in the family room and for the past two nights, she had been sleeping on the smaller of the two. Daryl was on the longer one so he would be able to stretch out and even though the windows were boarded up and the doors were locked and each night, they pushed the heavy kitchen table against the back door, he was back to sleeping only a couple of hours every night. With his boots on.

He had gotten careless. Thinking he and Beth were safe here just because it was quiet. He should have known better. Hadn't they had enough experience with feeling too safe and getting it all blown to hell? He couldn't let that happen. Not with this place. It might have seemed just like some random house but it was a good house. A newer build but sturdy all the same and it had a fence. They had food here and a fireplace to keep them warm and he still had to find them water but he hadn't gone and really explored. First, she had been sick and he hadn't wanted to leave her alone and then he had left her and she had been attacked. He would probably never forget the way she had been shaking in his arms and crying and saying how sorry she was – as if anything that had happened had been any of her fault.

It was all his. He had been the one to leave her alone for so long, thinking she'd be fine because why shouldn't she be? It was quiet here and slightly isolated and in the middle of nowhere. There was no reason why she wouldn't be fine. He should have known better and for the past couple of days, every time he caught a glimpse of Beth's bruised face or saw the blood stained on the patio steps, he felt a gnawing in his gut of how much he had screwed up and how he had almost lost her. He couldn't lose her. She was all he had now and he had to keep her and this place safe but no matter how many times he told himself both of those things, he had still fucked everything up.

He had been teaching her how to track before she got sick and he would have to pick that up again. He _wanted_ to keep teaching her. And he had other things to teach her. Picking off humans was different than picking off walkers and he knew he hadn't really been wanting to teach her how to do it because this was Beth and she was too good to know how to kill a person. But he knew there was no other way. Beth had to learn. It was the way the world was now and it couldn't be avoided. She was good and pretty and guys looked at a girl like her and figured out how to take her for themselves.

Daryl could never let that happen.

He was still trying so hard to not think about what would have happened if he hadn't come back in time and he would close his eyes and still see that guy on top of her.

Spring was coming. The nights were still cold but the days were getting warmer and he could smell the change in the air. The air smelled like dirt and rain and he and Beth were able to spend hours outside, working on the fence, without worrying about the cold or more snow. He couldn't remember the last time Georgia had gotten snow like this but he figured that without so many people trying to kill her, Earth had gone and started work on fixing herself up again. Maybe thousands of years ago, before people were around, Georgia had gotten snow all of the time.

He didn't really know how to fortify the fence since they didn't have that much stuff around them that could be helpful and it was just the two of them but they did what they could. They broke apart other fences in the subdivision and gathered as much wood as they could and they simply added to it, making it thicker, adding braces against it so it was sturdier. Daryl worked on another lock on the back gate. And as he and Beth were at a random house, gathering whatever materials they could find in the garage, Beth pulled a blue tarp away from a wheelbarrow and both she and Daryl stared at what she had found. Bricks. A lot of bricks. They were quiet for a moment.

"With the wood we've been adding to every panel, the top of the fence is a bit thicker," she spoke and he instantly moved his eyes to look at her. "Thick enough for us to add bricks to the top of it. We can add height that way."

"'s gonna take a lot of bricks," he said as he handed her the pair of garden shears they had found.

"We don't have to," she then responded in a quiet voice and she had been doing that a lot. The spitfire who was always so quick to call him on his shit or say that they were doing something with no room for argument had been gone for a few days now. Since those men. Now, she was quiet and was acting unsure about everything.

He fucking hated it.

He gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow and gently pulled it from the corner it was shoved into. "We'll do it," he told her. "Ain't like we got somewhere else to be."

She didn't respond to that and they walked from the garage together, heading down the sidewalk back towards their house. He was quiet and kept looking at Beth from the corner of his eye. The bruised side of her face was away from his view.

He didn't want to force her into talking but he didn't like what was happening. She was slipping inside of herself. He recognized it. He had done it enough times in his life.

"The front seems a'righ'," he said, not liking the silence; not from her. "For now. We'll focus on the bricks around the backyard before worryin' 'bout the front."

Beth nodded and didn't respond and he did his best to not sigh. It wasn't her fault. It was his and for the countless time since this had happened, he could do nothing but blame himself for it. He shouldn't have left her for as long as he had. What the hell had he been thinking? They hadn't been out of one another's sights and all of a sudden, he just decided to leave her for a whole damn day by herself with just a knife for protection? Girl was probably never going to feel safe again because of him.

They walked around the side of the house to the back and Beth moved ahead, unlocking the back gate with the heavy padlock Daryl had been able to find and which Beth was the only one with a key to now. She wore it at all times around her neck and she took it off now to unlock the lock and push the gate open so Daryl could guide the wheelbarrow into the yard and once she stepped into the yard herself, she closed the gate once more and locked it up.

Daryl looked around at the fence. And then down to the bricks. If they did two across, and two high, they were going to need a hell of a lot of bricks. But it was a real good idea and there was no reason why they couldn't do this. This was a neighborhood and there were bricks all over. They just had to find them. And it was as if he told her. It wasn't like they were in a hurry to get somewhere else. Even after what had happened, Daryl wanted to stay here – for a while at least – and Beth hadn't told him that she wanted to leave.

He was just glad it was a small backyard.

"So how we gonna do this?" Daryl asked.

Beth was quiet for a moment, looking to the bricks and then up towards the sun and then to the tall grass growing around them. "We're going to need this grass and some water and mud. A lot of mud." She then looked to Daryl. "We're going to make our very own cement."

"How we gonna do that?"

And for the first time since that man was on top of her, her lips turned upwards into a smile. "I just told you," she teased him and he smirked. "Shawn was in the Boy Scouts and he learned how to make it on one of his camping trips. When he came back, he was making it all the time. He showed me and Maggie how to make it. I wonder if she remembers," she said and at the mention of her sister, Beth went quiet again and turned her head away. Daryl noticed though that Beth was still talking about her in the present tense. At least there was still that.

Daryl looked at her and wished that she'd look at him but she hadn't looked at him – not like she used to; like she was able to see _inside_ of him.

"A'righ," Daryl said after a minute, breaking the silence. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "Le's get to work."

He upturned the wheelbarrow and carefully dumped the bricks onto the ground and began separating them into a row, two deep and two high, to see how many bricks they had and Beth took the garden sheers, kneeling down and beginning to clip at the long grass, making a large pile of the long blades. They discovered they would have to wait to get the mud. The ground was still too hard and the sun wasn't warm enough yet. Making their own cement might have to wait a few more days.

They worked for the afternoon until they heard the rumble of thunder in the distance, growing closer, and grey clouds began pushing their way across the sky. Daryl stood up to make sure their rain buckets on the back patio were ready for more water and Beth stood up, the garden shears tight in her hand, and Daryl watched as she went to the side of the fence where a walker had rambled up to them a little bit ago and was snarling as it knocked over and over into the fence, trying to get to them. The walker had once been a girl – probably around the same age as Beth was when they came to the farm and he saw her for the first time at Otis's funeral. But Beth didn't even hesitate in sinking the shears up through the walker's chin into her skull. Beth pulled the shears back and the walker dropped and the clouds overhead split open and a light rain immediately began to fall.

Beth didn't hurry though. She walked towards the house at the same pace as if she couldn't feel the rain at all.

xxx

It rained for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Daryl lit a fire and they sat on the floor in their usual spot in front of it, eating rice and tuna for dinner and a square of chocolate each for dessert. Another satisfying dinner that didn't leave his stomach growling and not for the first time, Daryl thought of their family and hoped, if they were out there somewhere, that they were able to eat like this, too.

One of the books they had been reading from sat beside Beth, the page they had left on dog-eared to keep their place, but she didn't reach for it like she usually did after dinner to read from it for a little bit. She hadn't read out loud for the past couple of days.

"You wanna read somethin' else?" Daryl asked and she had been staring into the fire, in some sort of trance, and his voice startled her from whatever thoughts she had been lost in. He had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking about.

Beth looked at him and shook her head. "Not really," she answered truthfully. "Did you want to read tonight instead?" She asked, picking up the book and holding it with both hands in her lap, her fingers flipping the page's edges.

"Nah," he shook his head. "You're better at readin' out loud than me. Better with all of that history stuff she writes 'bout in there."

Beth looked down to the book. "History was always my favorite subject in school. After music class," she said. "In high school, freshman year, you had to take a World history class and then sophomore year, it was American history. And I was so excited because junior and senior year, they had other history classes and you got to choose what you wanted to study."

Daryl knew she had been sixteen when the world went to shit and she hadn't gotten to go back to school to take whatever history class she wanted to.

"What'd you sign up for?" He asked her.

"The Civil War," she answered, still looking down to the book, her fingers still flipping at the corner. "I was wanting to see how my teacher would teach it because there's the way it really happened but then there's the South's version of it."

Daryl smirked a little at that and leaning back on his hands, he stretched his legs out in front of him, his feet closer to the fire. "Merle had a Confederate flag tattoo on 'im."

And Beth actually smiled a little at that. "That's not surprising at all," she said and he smirked again. "My mama had a book of letters exchanged between Yankee and Confederate soldiers and their loved ones during the war and I read that book at least three times. They were all so beautiful. It made me ache almost and it always made me wish that people could still write letters like that."

He was quiet, not sure what to say since he didn't know anything about it. He had never finished high school and before that, he had never been good at any subject in school. He had always liked being outside, learning things that way.

"I was so excited to take that class," she said in a softer voice and her eyes moved back to the fire and Daryl knew he was losing her again.

"Wanna play checkers?" He asked as the idea suddenly popped into his head and Beth looked at him, clearly surprised at the randomness of the idea.

"You have a checker set?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"Saw it downstairs in the basement with all of those other toys," he said. "Wanna play?" He asked again because if she didn't want to read, this was really the only thing he could think to do that would maybe help keep her here with him.

"I don't know how to play," Beth shook her head.

"I'll teach 'ya," he promised and pulled himself up to his feet.

He took the flashlight and he could feel her eyes on him as he headed towards the basement door. Neither he nor Beth had been down here since they had gone through all of those tins and found little knick-knacks to add to their stock. There really hadn't been a reason to come down here. There didn't seem to be too much except decorations for every holiday and old toys that the kids of the family had outgrown.

He shined the light across the toy shelves and found the checker set after a second, slipping the box under his arm and scanning over the other offerings, just seeing if there was anything else to play. If he and Beth stayed here for a long time, they would definitely have plenty of board games to play, he decided.

He headed back towards the stairs and saw that Beth was standing at the top, waiting for him. He tried to give her a smile that she probably couldn't see in the darkness and she stepped back as he climbed the last step and closed the basement door behind him.

"You good?" He asked and she nodded, following him back towards the fire in the family room, both sitting down in their spots again, and he didn't think how Beth didn't seem to like having him out of her sight anymore.

All of the doors were locked and windows boarded and the table was pushed up against the back door and it was raining a little harder outside. Daryl knew no one was going to get in here tonight and a person could think that it was almost cozy.

"A'righ'," Daryl said once he had the board and pieces set up. "You be red. I'll be black."

"How'd you learn how to play?" Beth asked as she crossed her legs and sat a little closer to the board.

"Merle learned during one of his lock-ups. Got out and taught me," Daryl shrugged, getting himself a bit more comfortable, too, for the game. "Competitive son of a bitch," he then muttered and Beth smiled at that. "Ready?" He then asked her.

She nodded her head and took a deep breath as if this was much more serious than a game of checkers and he nearly smiled at that. "Ready," she confirmed.

xxx

After three games – Daryl winning the first two and Beth winning the third, beaming as she did – they decided it was time for bed. Beth went to the smaller couch and laid down, curling herself into a ball and covering herself with her blankets. Daryl, though, didn't lay down on his couch. Instead, he scooted back until he could sit back against the couch and stayed on the floor.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep?" Beth asked, turning her head to look at him.

"Nah," he shook his head. "Think I'll stay up for a lil' bit. Stay on watch."

Beth was quiet at that and he didn't think she would respond; really no reason for her to. They used to take turns taking watch every night when they had been out there and it was just another thing he had been careless about since they got to this place. Not just careless but stupid. He had been so stupid about a lot of things since coming here.

"Daryl," she said his name after such a span of time had passed, he had thought she had long fallen asleep. She turned her head and looked at him and he looked back at her and waited for what she was going to say. "What happened to me, it wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was, Beth," he said without hesitating because it was the truth. There was no one else to blame but him.

"No," she shook her head. "It was mine. I came inside and I left the door open. I let those men inside. You should be furious at me for that. If I hadn't left the door open, those men wouldn't have… and you wouldn't have had to kill them."

And that was another problem, wasn't it? That he hadn't even had a moment's hesitation or guilt when it came to killing those men. Why would he? They were stealing from them and hurting Beth and Daryl knew he didn't own her – a person couldn't own another person – but Beth was _his_ all the same and a person couldn't even look at her without having a bolt in the back or a knife across the throat.

He exhaled a deep breath, not even realizing he had been holding one. "It ain't your fault, Beth, and I don't wan' you ever thinkin' it is. And don't go thinkin' I'm mad at you 'bout it either."

She was quiet and he turned his head towards her when he heard her moving. She pushed the blankets from her body and slid down from the couch. She came to him on the floor and sat down beside him – probably a little too closely but he found that he didn't really mind that much.

"Still," she said, almost whispering now. "I'm sorry for it."

He was quiet as if thinking it over. "There's nothin' to be sorry 'bout," he told her again. "I'd kill a lot more people if you were ever in danger."

He didn't know if he meant to tell her that – ever – but he knew it was the truth and there was no reason why she shouldn't know the truth. She should know that he did kill for her and he would do it again. Always. Without hesitation.

Beth didn't say anything to that but after a moment, she leaned in closer and she rested her head on his shoulder and she reached a hand out, slipping hers over his. And Daryl was the one to take hold of her hand and slide his fingers through hers.

xxx

Days passed and as always, Beth kept track of them in her journal. Each day was the same as the last. They worked in the backyard, making cement, laying the bricks, working in the garden, pulling out dead leaves and dead plants and weeds, getting it ready for spring planting. And on day seventy-two, they finally went exploring enough to find some water. A small winding creek in the woods just a few houses down from where they were.

He promised they'd come back and they did, with vanilla shampoo and lavender soap. Daryl stood guard as Beth washed herself off in the water, she able to sink down in it to her shoulders if she sat on her knees. He kept his back to her and his crossbow in his hands and he smiled a little as he listened to her laughing about how cold it was.

He listened as she splashed around as she bathed herself and she hummed a song quietly. She didn't sing though. He hadn't heard her sing since before _that_ happened but he wasn't going to ask her to sing. If she didn't feel like it, he couldn't and wouldn't force her into it.

He heard more water splashing as she pulled herself out of the creek.

"Done," she told him but he still kept his back turned as she toweled herself off and she had brought fresher clothes with her to change into. "All set," she then told him and after peeking over his shoulder to make sure – as if Beth would trick him – that she was fully dressed, he turned to face her.

She gave him a small smile and she began rubbing her hair with the towel.

"You going to take a turn?" She asked. "It's been a while since our last bath."

"Nah, I'm good," he told her with a shake of his head. "Le's head back."

Beth didn't make a move to walk though. She just looked at him and her smile was gone. "I can keep watch for a little bit, Daryl. I can. If that's what you're worried about."

He frowned and his brow furrowed at that. "I know you can."

They'd been together long enough for him to know that. He took first watch and wake her up after a few hours and he slept while she took the second watch. He knew she could watch his back and keep their asses safe for a while.

But he looked at her and just because he knew, it was obvious that she didn't know it and she obviously thought that he thought she was incompetent or something like that.

And he was beginning to wish that he could kill those men all over again because what they did and left behind, this wasn't Beth. She didn't doubt herself. She didn't take shit. She was tough. Just as tough as Carol, Michonne or Maggie or any other guy in the world. And now, she didn't even know it.

His fingers subconsciously tightened around his crossbow. "Le's go back to the house so I can get a towel and some clothes to change into 'fore we come back," he said and the smile across Beth's face was slow to take but once it was there, it didn't fade as she nodded her head in agreement and they headed out of the woods together and started for home.

xxx

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 **Spring is officially here in the next chapter.**

 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you so much to those who are reading and commenting this story! I hope you like this chapter - it's a little slow but it's Daryl and Beth building themselves a life here and this chapter is one of my personal favorites.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Ten.**

Beth smiled as she moved away more dead leaves from the dirt bed to find another green bud. Spring was here – finally – and the woman who had lived here before had planted bulbs in a flower bed against the back of the house. Beth couldn't wait to see what they would bloom into. She hoped for tulips. Tulips had always been her favorite.

She lifted her head and turned to look at Daryl for a moment. He was working on the fence. They weren't just using bricks but now rocks they had gathered from one house's landscaping and the sun was warm enough to cook their cement; and warm enough for Daryl to work in a shirt with no sleeves. She tried not to settle her eyes on his arms – particularly his biceps – but she honestly didn't know where else to look. The muscles were straining and stretching under dirt and sweat stained skin and she forced herself to quickly turn her eyes back to her bulbs even as she felt her face warm and she knew she couldn't blame it on the sun.

She didn't know why she was looking at him at all like that. He was handsome, yes. She had admitted that to herself a while ago but even though it was just the two of them, she knew she couldn't look at him like that. It was Daryl. They were… friends. She assumed they were anyway. They actually hadn't had a discussion about it because having a discussion with Daryl about anything like that would never happen but it was just them and they were staying here – for a while though they hadn't discussed that either – and they were the only family they had left and it only made sense that they would be friends. And she couldn't be looking at her friend's arms like that. Like she was dying of thirst and he was the only glass of water around for miles.

She heard movement coming closer to her then and she almost reluctantly lifted her head from the flowerbeds to turn to see him approaching her, wiping at his sweaty face with that red bandana of his. They had brought out a bottle of water with them and it was left near her and he came to it now and Beth did her best to not look as he squirted the water into his mouth or the way sweat slowly trickled down his arms.

"How it look?" Daryl then asked and it took Beth a second longer than it should have to realize that he was talking about the fence.

And when she did, she stood up with pink cheeks and looked to the fence. They were almost done with the back; finding those landscaping rocks had been a Godsend. With the added height, the fence now came to her chest and she felt so much more safe.

Beth nodded and looked back to him. "It looks perfect," she said and her lips upturned in a little smile and Daryl's lips twitched in a responding smile.

The back gate had also been nailed shut and they added more wood and rock to that as well so no one coming out from the woods could see the gate and sneak in. Now, for Beth and Daryl, their entrance and exit in and out of the house would be the door in the garage that led out on the side of the house. The garage also conveniently had another door that led into the backyard and Beth had noticed that most of these houses had doors like that from the garage.

These houses were like a Pinterest board's dream and yes, their family was still out there and she didn't doubt it and she and Daryl would go out and try to find them again once more. But right now, they were settling here and… and things were good. For the most part. They were making themselves – and this house – protected and they had flowers and vegetables and water and a fence and… Beth felt terrible for not wanting to be more eager to get back out there again.

She wondered how long Daryl wanted them to stay here.

"We'll start work on the front fence in a couple a days," Daryl said and Beth nodded in agreement, still looking at all of the work they had been able to accomplish – just the two of them and her mind wandered back to the prison for a moment and all that they had been able to do there, too. "How's this goin'?" He then asked and she followed his eyes down to the flower beds and the garden beds she had been weeding that morning.

She smiled at her work. "We're going to have flowers," she told him even though she knew he really wouldn't care.

But Daryl surprised her by looking at her and looking like he wanted to smile. "'member how you and the kids planted all those flowers at the prison. Looked nice."

And Beth felt her smile widen at that because not only did he remember that but that he had even noticed those flowers in the first place. She looked down to the flower beds before she found herself staring at Daryl and unable to look away.

"I've missed flowers," she then said in a soft voice, staring down at the green buds for a moment, imagining how beautiful they would be in a few more days. She cleared her throat, as if embarrassed for having said that to him. "And it's warm enough so after lunch, I'll be planting our tomatoes and green beans and the squash seeds."

"I can help you with that," Daryl offered.

"Oh, you don't have to," she was quick to shake her head. "I'm sure you have other things you probably need to see to."

Daryl just shrugged though. "'s my garden, too. 's our garden. Gonna be eatin' whatever vegetables come from it. Need to earn what I eat."

Beth nearly smiled at that. She could have told him again that he didn't have to but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Daryl Dixon did what Daryl Dixon wanted to do and nothing anyone said could change his mind. Except for maybe words from Rick but she definitely wasn't Rick and Daryl wouldn't be listening to her like she was.

"Thank you," she then said and she felt his eyes on her but she was feeling shy all of a sudden and she couldn't bring herself to look at him.

She didn't know what the hell was going on and she didn't really want to think about it. This was Daryl and he was all she had. She couldn't mess anything up by getting something as stupid as a _crush_ on him. The word alone made her want to grimace. A crush. Like they were two kids in high school.

She went into the house first and he followed after her and she didn't care if he thought she was acting weird. She tried to hurry ahead and put a little bit of space between them. They were both clean. They had been bathing themselves every couple of days in the stream now that it was getting warmer and even though he had been working all morning, making mud cement and lugging around landscaping rocks, Beth swore that she could still smell the soap clinging to him past the dirt and sweat.

They had spread out a bit more. It was day eighty together and they had been here for almost a month now and they weren't just in the family room. They were in the kitchen now, too, and she wanted this place to feel more like a home and Beth went there now where they had put most of the food. They had left some in the plastic bin that had been the Doomsday kit and they had put away some in their backpacks – just in case they had to run from here at a moment's notice.

They ate a can of beans for lunch and they usually ate tuna or rice or whatever meat Daryl had been able to hunt for dinner and she couldn't wait until they started having fresh vegetables that could break up the monotony. Not that she would ever think of complaining. There was nothing to complain about. She and Daryl were lucky and they had plenty of food for the both of them. They weren't starving and having to eat snake.

Or bark.

Her throat instantly went dry at the thought and she did her best to swallow it down. People who had to survive by eating tree bark did desperate things. Terrible things.

Beth was quick to shut her mind down on any thoughts like that. She didn't want to think about anything that had happened to her. It would be better if she just forgot that any of it had happened. Nothing _had_ happened – because of Daryl and coming back in time to stop that man from…

She jumped when she felt a gentle hand on her elbow and she spun around to see that it was Daryl; as if it would have been anyone else. He was looking at her with a slight frown on his face and a wrinkle between his eyebrows.

"Hey," he then said softly as if she was a wild animal in the woods he had stumbled upon. "You okay?" He asked and she realized he had been talking to her but about what, she had no idea because she hadn't heard a single word.

She refrained from closing her eyes and exhaling a deep breath.

He didn't need to know where her mind had been traveling to. She didn't need Daryl to know that she had been thinking about what had happened; what had almost happened. He would worry about her and she didn't want him to do that. They had bigger things to think about than her. Like keeping this house and themselves safe.

Beth nodded and did her best to give him a genuine smile. "I'm fine," she said and her voice sounded fake and overly-perky but Daryl probably wouldn't notice. "You want to eat outside? It's so nice today."

Daryl wouldn't stop looking at her, his eyes studying her closely, and she stood there, looking at him in return. She had given him another haircut but again, not too much was taken off. Just a little bit because he really did look good with the longer hair and they were both cleaner and eating at least two meals every day and they were doing good here. For being here just short of one month, they were doing so good here and she was proud of all they had been able to find and accomplish. She wasn't going to allow herself to ruin anything for them.

"Come on," Beth said because she didn't know why Daryl was looking at her like that and his eyes focused on her so intently was giving her a knot in her stomach. She wasn't used to him looking at her like that and she felt a flush on the back of her neck and she felt like an idiot because of it.

She took their pot and can of baked beans and moved to the fire they kept lit in the fireplace in the family room and she could feel his eyes following her but she made sure not to look at him again as she held the pot over the flames, warming the beans up.

His arm suddenly appeared in her line of sight and he was holding the plastic bowls out to her and she was aware of how close he was standing to her. Still, she didn't look at him as she scooped the beans evenly between the two bowls. And then, taking the now empty pot with her to wash out later, she handed him one of the bowls and took one for herself and headed out the back door.

They sat at the picnic table on the patio and ate their lunch for a few minutes in silence.

"What you think that tree is?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence, and she lifted her head to look at the tree growing in the back corner of the yard, the buds on the branches days away from blossoming.

"I think it might be a cherry tree," she said, remembering Jimmy's parents had had several squat trees that looked like that growing on their farm.

"Think it'll actually give us cherries?" Daryl asked, looking at the tree for another moment before looking back to her.

She shrugged, not wanting to get her hopes up. "They'll probably be too sour to eat."

"Still," Daryl shoveled another spoon of beans into his mouth. "Sour cherries are better than no cherries," he said and she felt herself wanting to smile so she did.

"Have you ever had sour cherries? Because if you have, you wouldn't be saying that."

And Daryl smiled then at her, an actual smile as if pleased with what she had said.

After eating, they put their bowls and plastic spoons into the pot so they could go down to the creek later to wash everything out and they then went to what would be their new vegetable garden. Beth took a moment to look it over.

"I pulled all of the weeds and dead plants out but see this?" She asked, pointing to little green sprouts poking out of the dirt. "Those aren't weeds. Those are going to be something. I don't know what yet but it's something that was able to rot and replant itself so since we don't know what they're going to be, we'll give them plenty of room."

Daryl nodded, looking at the sprouts and then at her and he was quiet, waiting for her to give him direction and she realized that he had no idea how to do this. She was the one with farming in her blood and right now, Daryl was going to be following her. She didn't know why because it was just some little vegetable garden but she felt proud of herself then. Important. And she felt something surge upwards in her chest.

They worked on their knees in the dirt, side by side for the rest of the afternoon. Digging and planting and making rows for their tomato, green bean and squash plants and seeds. And when it was all said and done, Beth sat back and she smiled and she thought of her daddy. He would have smiled and would have been mighty proud of this garden.

She turned her head and looked at Daryl beside her and smiled and after a moment of looking at her, he smiled a little, too.

"We're gonna be a'right here for a while," he said and it was an echo of the words he had said to her once already – just without the _I think_ in front of them. Now, he sounded certain and Beth was going to believe that, too.

They _would_ be alright here for a while and she wanted that while to last.

Beth smiled and nodded her head and she didn't think about it. She just leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his sweaty shoulders and hugged him. And this time, she didn't feel his usual hesitation any time she touched him. This time, she hugged him and Daryl didn't seem to wait at until to hug her back. She felt his arms – warm and heavy – around her back and she couldn't help but close her eyes.

She missed physical contact with people. She had gone through the first years of life, getting hugs and kisses on the head from her parents or siblings. And then there was Jimmy… and Zach… and now there was Daryl, who flinched that first time she had hugged him in the doorway of her cell after he gave her the news of Zach but she had been far more concerned about him because he had just looked so down about it all.

But now, they were here. They had a house and a fence and a soon-to-be vegetable garden and she had his arms around her. She felt safe.

xxx

In the late afternoon, before dusk, they went to the creek to wash themselves and dishes off. Daryl took the first watch and turned his back as Beth began stripping her clothes off to get into the water.

"Is this some kind of record for you? Three baths in a week?" She teased him once she was submerged up to her shoulders in the water.

"Quiet," he grumbled but she didn't hear a bite in his tone and she laughed softly.

The truth was, she liked that he was keeping clean. She remembered in the prison, after they had been there and had made it a home, Daryl had bathed regularly, too, and wore clean clothes. It was only after it fell and they had to run and he was slipping away did he go back to not caring whether he was clean or not. But now… maybe, now, he was starting to look at this place as their home.

Once she was hidden beneath the water, Daryl turned towards the creek but she noticed that he made sure his eyes didn't linger anywhere below her face. He had his crossbow in his hands, always ready, and she began humming a soft song as she scrubbed at her body with the wash cloth and lavender soap and washed her hair. The water was still cold but not freezing like before and working all day, it was refreshing.

She hoped the family was somewhere with water, too. And food and shelter and again, she felt the little gnawing in the pit of her stomach that told her that she and Daryl shouldn't stay here; that they should get back out there and start their search again. They were probably all still looking for Daryl. Not for her but definitely Daryl. Who on earth would give up on Daryl?

"Beth," Daryl then said her name in a quiet voice and she instantly stopped her humming and looked to him. He put a finger to his lips, telling her to stay quiet, and she went completely still in the water, making sure she didn't move a muscle even though she was certain he could probably hear the pounding of her heart in her chest.

He was looking to his left and he crept forward a few silent steps, his crossbow aimed and ready, directed towards a tree and she knew, with that, that it wasn't a walker or a man. It was an animal and he was hunting them their dinner. She held her breath, watching him, wondering what it was. She saw the way his entire body was tight and the way his muscles were flexed and how slow and patient he moved. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was a good-looking man but when Daryl hunted, he was beautiful.

Her cheeks exploded with a blush at the thought but he wouldn't notice. Right now, everything in the woods had fallen away from him except for the animal being hunted.

She couldn't help but jump a little when he suddenly fired the bow and a bolt sailed through the air, and she watched as it landed into the side of an unfortunate raccoon. And the old her would have been horrified at the thought of killing an adorable raccoon and eating it but the person she was now, her stomach almost grumbled at the thought of having a filling dinner tonight to eat.

Daryl went to go collect the bolt and the animal and when he looked back at her, Beth burst into a smile and Daryl smiled easily, too.

xxx

She finished bathing as Daryl dressed the raccoon and then once she was dried off and dressed once more, Daryl took his turn in the creek, scrubbing himself until his skin had a slight tint of pink to it – not that Beth was looking at his bare skin. She never mentioned the scars all over his body – especially the ones on his back – and Daryl didn't mention them either even though he knew that she had seen them. She may have been younger than him but that didn't make her an idiot. She knew what those scars were and where they had come from. There was no reason to talk about them unless Daryl mentioned them first and she knew he probably never would. It was as if she had told him once. He was made for the way the world was now – and it was because of those scars on his back and that he had survived them.

After Daryl was finishing cleaning himself off and the pot, bowls and spoons were clean as well, they gathered their things and headed for home. Just saying that, it made Beth's steps feel lighter to her. Home. She and Daryl were making a home for themselves and as they stepped through the woods and she saw their fence of wood and brick and stone, she couldn't stop the smile from blooming across her face.

They were doing pretty alright for themselves here.

Inside, they cooked the raccoon meat over the fire and tonight, they sat on the floor in front of the fire drying their hair and they ate their dinner and had a square each of chocolate for dessert and she felt full and light and happy. She actually felt like reading tonight and she hadn't felt that since those men had been here. But she wasn't going to think about that right now. She never wanted to think about it again and as she reached for the paperback book, she could have sworn she saw Daryl's lips twitch.

"… she did not scream. She yelled and ran for Frisque with all the speed she had, and as the wolf broke from the tree line, Mary reached the little dog and snatched him up and wheeled about and went on running, with her lungs on fire. Macpherson, from the river, yelled as well, "Get down!" She did not understand. Her gaze in panic fell upon him, standing in the water to his knees, the long gun leveled to his shoulder as he sighted down its barrel. "Mary!" He called out more strongly. "Down!" She did as ordered, dropping with her body curled round Frisque, the wolf so close behind she heard it panting. And MacPherson fired."

"You can't stop there," Daryl frowned as she closed the book.

"It's the end of the chapter and I've already read three tonight," she said, wanting to laugh if her throat didn't feel a little tender.

Daryl just kept on frowning though, clearly not pleased with her reasoning.

She almost wanted to laugh. "You know MacPherson got the wolf and Mary is safe."

"Do you know?" He cocked an eyebrow up at her.

"Yes," she stated confidently even though she had never read the book. "MacPherson and Mary are going to get together. You can't kill one half of the couple before it happens," she then said matter-of-factly.

Daryl now looked confused. "MacPherson and Mary? Really?"

"Can't you see it?" Beth asked with a slight tilt of her head, looking at him.

"She's scared out of her mind 'round him," Daryl pointed out to her.

"Maybe at first," Beth shrugged and she looked down to the book in her lap, smoothing her hand over the front cover. "But you can tell she's curious about him now and she's realizing that he keeps her safe. He may seem scary but she's seeing now that he seems to be doing anything to keep her safe."

Daryl was quiet at that and she lifted her eyes to see him looking into the fire, not saying anything to what she had said and she wondered – far from the first time – what was going on in Daryl Dixon's mind. She didn't ask though. She didn't expect Daryl to tell her if she did. Even though it had been just them for eighty days now, there was still so much of Daryl that was a mystery to her and probably always would be.

"Do you want to play a game of checkers?" Beth then asked, breaking the silence.

Daryl cleared his throat. "Yeah," he agreed and moved away from her to get the checkerboard from the coffee table where they kept it and Beth was well aware that he barely met her eyes for the rest of the evening.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**

 **(Daryl and Beth are reading books by Susanna Kearsley and right now, they're in the middle of my favorite, _A Desperate Fortune._ I cannot recommend her books enough.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**As always, your support for this story means so much to me and I can't thank you enough.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Eleven.**

On the morning of day eighty-one, Daryl stepped out of the back door onto the concrete patio and inhaled a deep breath of cool spring morning air. The sky was getting lighter with streaks of orange and red in the east over the trees. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning, Daryl recited the old saying to himself and he knew it would rain later. Good. He would never complain about the rain.

His eyes drifted over to the budding flowers and the garden that they had planted yesterday. He walked towards it now, making sure he didn't step too close, not wanting to disturb anything, looking at the plants in various stages of growth. The squash seeds were still beneath the dirt but he knew they were there, sprouting up one day, and the tomato and green bean plants were small and green but they would grow soon, too, and he couldn't wait for the prospect of having fresh vegetables. He looked to the mysterious green buds that Beth had cleared debris away from and they had left them plenty of room to grow, each wondering what they would grow into.

Daryl went to the rain bucket they had set up at one of the gutter down spouts – that would later be filled with more fresh water for them – and he cupped his hands and leaning over, he splashed some of the cold water on his face now.

Beth was still inside, asleep. Since the back fence was more or less finished, and the front door was locked and boarded up tight as were all of the windows and the other doors in the garage, he didn't let his guard down but a little bit of him felt able to sleep a couple of more hours every night – and at the same time Beth was sleeping, too.

He walked around to the far side of the house, where they kept two buckets and there was a bit of privacy with the fence and a large evergreen that grew at the back corner of the house. It wasn't ideal but beggars couldn't be choosers and it was better than going behind a tree – at least for her. Daryl supposed he had never minded that much where he went to the bathroom but that had always been him and Beth wasn't him.

He peed in the bucket they had designated for "number one" and he then stepped back into the backyard. He heard a familiar snarl at the back of the fence and looking over the top rock layer, he could see just the top of a walker's head, stumbling into the wood barrier. Daryl took his knife and crossed the grass, heading towards it, and within seconds, his knife was reaching over and sinking into the walker's head and the walker fell. The morning was quiet again except for the birds in the trees chirping their songs.

Armed with his crossbow and sliding his heavy hunting knife back into his sheath, he crossed the yard once more, heading to the back door that led into the garage.

They had found a set of keys in what was probably the guy's office who used to live here. A heavy wood desk with a computer collecting dust, a few pictures of what had to be family, a couch and a couple of bookshelves lining the wall that were filled with text looking books. Law books, Beth had said and had opened one, glancing at it before returning it to the shelf. They had also found some old mail and looking at the address, they saw they were still in Georgia and then, looking at the atlas, they saw they had come pretty far north in the state, almost to the border but not leaving the state.

He didn't say it to Beth but he wasn't ready to leave the state, yet. He had never left Georgia, no, but right now, he didn't see a point to doing it. They had it good here and were making it better. There was no reason to leave and he would never tell this to Beth but it was pretty damn obvious to him that their family was no longer around here. He had no idea who had made it out of the prison after the Governor or where they had gone but they had obviously gotten the hell out of Georgia and gone somewhere else. Weren't like that many living people left in the world anymore where, if they were still in Georgia, he and Beth wouldn't have come across at least one of them by now.

But he kept that all inside and didn't say any of it to Beth. He knew she wanted to still look and she wasn't going to be giving up hope and he didn't know how to tell her that he didn't want to look anymore. He didn't want to leave this place.

He had offered her the keys but she had shaken her head, saying that it would make more sense if he was to hold onto them instead. He had wondered about her reasoning but he hadn't asked. He now pulled them from his pocket and unlocked the door, stepping into the garage. He had raided this on their first day here and most of it was junk but some of it was helpful. The family had had two cars – judging by the empty space – and their other car had remained. An older four-door Buick and Daryl was determined to get the thing running in tip-top shape so not only would he and Beth have a car when they had to go further out for more supplies but – if it came to it - also to make a run for it.

The garage had some of the tools he needed but he was going to go raid the other garages more closely – the first time having done quickly to grab the more obvious things. Now, he would be able to go and take his time and add to the collection of possessions he and Beth were building for themselves here. He missed their family and was also kind of pissed that they would just leave without trying to find them again but he guessed he couldn't really blame them. If it hadn't been for Beth pushing him to keep the search up, he would have given up trying to find them a long time ago.

He wouldn't have even really started.

The truth was, now that they were here – now that they had a house and a fence and food and water nearby – Daryl didn't want to leave. He didn't know what Beth thought about it but this was a good place, random yes but still good, and the two of them were making a real go of it here. He didn't see a reason to leave here.

He knew he'd have to talk about with it to Beth; let her know what he thought about this all and figure out what she wanted, too.

Unlocking the side door and stepping out in the grass along the side of the house, Daryl closed the door once more and headed towards the back, following along the fence and coming around the corner, seeing the walker lying in a heap in the grass. The idea had come to him late last night when he had been taking first watch and Beth had been sleeping peacefully on the smaller of the two couches in the family room. She hadn't gone back to sleeping in the big bedroom since _that_ happened and he wondered if she would ever feel safe enough to again. Not that he minded having her so close.

It had taken some time but it had definitely happened – sometime over the past eighty-one days; after burning down a house together. Now, he couldn't imagine not having her close to him anymore. He missed their family; missed Rick and Carol. But being here, he found himself fine with it. If he and Beth stayed here, just the two of them in this house in this neighborhood, Daryl knew that he'd be fine with that.

The walker hadn't been that big of a guy in life and Daryl crouched down, easily able to hoist the body up and sling him over his shoulder like a fireman. He heard rustling of leaves from the woods and he saw another walker stumbling towards him but Daryl didn't have his free hands to take care of it so he walked at a slightly quickened pace back to the garage door, slipping inside of the garage and closing and locking it once more. As he walked through the garage back to the door that led to the backyard, he could hear that walker growling and banging against the side of the fence.

As he walked further into the yard, Daryl saw that Beth was awake now and coming out from around the evergreen tree where she had been relieving herself. She smiled the instant she saw him but it faded once she saw the walker over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Figured if we're gonna have a garden, we're gonna need a scarecrow," he grunted and then dropped the walker on the ground near the garden.

Beth laughed at that and looked a little surprised that he had thought of something like that and he smiled a little in response, the tips of his ears turning red because maybe it was a stupid idea and he had never had a garden before in his life but he's heard it was what people did. The scarecrows were usually made out of straw, he knew, but there were plenty of things scarier than things stuffed with straw walking around.

She looked down at the walker for a moment and then lifted her eyes to him, giving him a smile that lit her face up. "It's perfect."

Daryl did his best to avert his eyes away from her. He found himself unable to look at her for too long of a time because lately, he was becoming more aware of how pretty she was. He wondered if he had always known it but had never focused on it because she had just been little Beth Greene then. The youngest daughter and younger sister of Hershel and Maggie Greene and he hated to admit it to himself now, but back then, on the farm and in the prison, Hershel and Maggie had just seemed so much more important than Beth. He cared about Beth, yes. She was part of his main family and they had all been on the farm and had survived that first winter and had found the prison. Despite all of that though, she had been just Beth. A part of the family and someone he had to keep safe and fed.

But – as he was sometimes – he had been proven wrong and now, he'd take Beth Greene over her sister any day. Maggie was strong and brave but she was selfish and made it pretty clear she only cared about herself and Glenn and her sister had never really been a blip on her radar after the prison. Beth was just as strong and brave as her sister – though she probably didn't know it – and on top of all of that, she was good. Even after everything that had happened – watching her dad lose his head right in front of her and being attacked and almost raped by two men – she still woke up every morning and found it in herself to think that there was still good in this world.

And as all of these thoughts occurred to him, it also became more clear to him that Beth Greene was the prettiest girl left alive in this world. Daryl felt the tips of his ears turn red around her at least twice a day and he wondered if Beth ever noticed it.

"I have a favor to ask," she broke through his thoughts. "Of what I want to do today."

"A'right," he readily agreed and then waited for her to tell him.

"I want to go look at the other houses around here again," she said. "I want to see if there are other gardens growing. Maybe we can transfer more plants over here."

"Yeah," he nodded his head. "I was thinkin' 'bout headin' out anyway. Want to go through the other garages. See if I can find more tools to work on the car." Beth smiled at that and he focused his eyes on her forehead rather than in her eyes or on that smile of hers. "Can't be gone too long though. Gonna rain later today," he told her.

"I'm ready to go whenever you are," she nodded.

He gathered the wheelbarrow and their collapsible bucket as well another plastic one they had found and he made sure he had his knife and all of his bolts and Beth came out of the house with a backpack on her back and he knew it was the one with some of their food – just in case they weren't able to come back here for whatever reason. He made sure she had her knife on her and she smiled as she handed him one of the packets of peanuts he had found in a shoe-box that first day stumbling on this subdivision.

"Breakfast," she smiled, already munching on her own pack of peanuts and his lips quirked in a slight smile of thanks, taking it from her.

They had already gone through the houses on either side of theirs thoroughly so they crossed the street to the house directly across from them. The garage door was open so Daryl wasn't expecting to find a lot but he headed inside anyway, leaving the wheelbarrow out on the driveway for the time being, and Beth joined him. He began opening the drawers of the workbench, finding that everything was pretty much already gone except for a few random nails that he took and rusty screws, which he also took.

"This?" Beth asked and he looked at her beside him, holding up a plastic funnel. He nodded and she crouched down, opening the next drawer. From the corner of his eye, he saw her pause and he turned his head, looking down at her.

"What'd you find?" He asked.

"Something I don't think I was supposed to," she commented and she stood up once more and he saw that she was holding some of those instant Polaroid pictures in her hands. He leaned in a little closer to see what they were and he exhaled a breath.

"Jesus," he murmured, taking them from her, looking down at the man photographed, wearing woman's lingerie. "Probably one of the scariest things I've seen yet," he said and Beth giggled, taking the pictures back from him and putting them back in the drawer. Again, he felt the tips of his ears turn red at the sound. He liked that he could get her to make that sound. He never would have thought himself to be a funny guy.

"I wonder if the camera is around here. I would love if we found it and it still worked," Beth said and dug further into the drawer but with the slight frown on her face, he knew that it wasn't there.

He busied himself with going through the other drawers – looking for the random tool or piece of hardware – and keeping his eye out for the Polaroid instant camera. He imagined Beth's smile if he found it for her. And that was another thing he liked. He really liked when he was able to make her smile. Beth was the sort to smile all of the time over the littlest of thing so he knew that she probably would smile at anyone she had been stuck with but Daryl liked to imagine that she smiled because of him.

He shook his head at the stupid thought and leaving the workbench, he headed to the green metal cabinet shoved against the wall between the workbench and the lawnmower. He opened the doors and looked inside, barely blinking at the nest of mice who had made themselves a cozy nest on the top shelf. They squeaked at him and froze but he didn't even give them a second look as he gazed over the other shelves. A bag of golf clubs, a weed whacker and a leaf blower. He took the whacker and blower and went to go set them into the wheelbarrow along with the nails and screws. He figured he'd be able to tear them apart for some useful parts inside.

When he turned back towards the garage, he saw Beth at the cabinet, standing on her toes, smiling at the mice she saw there.

"Here you go," she said and he frowned as she gave the mice some of her peanuts.

"Don't be wastin' food like that," he said, coming back to her. "Been livin' this long without someone feedin' them and they're too small for us to eat."

"A thing's size shouldn't prevent a person from helping them," was all she said to him in response. "And look what they showed me."

And with that, she reached further onto the shelf, past the nest, and pulled out a Polaroid camera, turning and beaming at Daryl with triumph. And Daryl smiled, too, unable to help himself when Beth was smiling at him like that. And with the smile still on his face, before he could wipe it away, Beth raised the camera to her eye and snapped a picture, startling them both when the flash went off and the picture was spit out in front like a frog's tongue.

"Quit it," he grumbled, his smile gone, replaced with a frown, but Beth just took the picture and shook it a couple of times before holding it out, waiting for the image to appear and Daryl couldn't help but look, too.

The film was aged and the image that slowly began to appear was a bit yellowish-gold around the edges as if the picture had been taken years ago instead of just minutes. And slowly, they both saw the shape of him form and Daryl saw the frozen smile on his face. He looked at it for a moment. He didn't smile a lot. Most of the time, he didn't find that much to smile over. But looking down at the picture, he saw himself smiling and not only was he actually smiling, but he looked actually happy. And looking at Beth looking down at the image, she was smiling, too, at the sight of it.

"Here," he said, taking the camera from her and Beth turned towards him, knowing what he was going to do. She smiled as she always did – bright and happy – and he snapped her picture, the flash going off and the picture spitting out.

He didn't wait for it to develop and she didn't ask to see it. He just slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans and handed her the camera again. He didn't think more about what he was doing. He just knew that he wanted to keep that picture for himself.

xxx

There were other gardens growing wild, and with Beth instructing him how to, they both gently extracted some of the other plants to take home with them and plant in their own garden. More tomatoes – they'd be sick of tomatoes by the end of the season, Beth smiled though Daryl doubted it – and green peppers and cucumbers.

"Corn!" Beth exclaimed happily and treated those with the utmost care as she dug the roots from the dirt. It seemed like people in this neighborhood tried to grow a little bit of everything – much to the luck of Daryl and Beth.

"This a weed?" Daryl asked, pointing to a grouping of rough looking leaves near the end of one garden, and Beth came to look and after a moment of studying them, she let out sharp gasp of recognition.

"No, those are definitely not a weed," she said as she dropped down to her knees and he crouched down next to her, watching as she brushed dead leaves and twigs away from the plant. "You, Daryl, have just found us strawberries."

He exhaled a huff of air at that, feeling a little pleased with that, and before he could even think of a response, Beth turned and stretching her neck up, she kissed him on the cheek. And it wasn't the first time she had kissed him on the cheek – he had even kissed her on the forehead – so he knew there was no reason for his entire face to feel as warm as it did right now.

"We should probably head back," Beth said and she didn't sound affected at all at having kissed his cheek as Daryl was feeling right now. "If it's going to rain today, I want to get these back into the ground."

He nodded in agreement and with the buckets filled with dirt and their plants, and their wheelbarrow filled with the random junk found from the couple of garages they had gone through, they started on the way home and Daryl really liked how that sounded. He had never called the farm home and it took a long time of being at the prison for him to think of it as such but being in this place with Beth for just a month, he was able to call it that easily with no problem.

Back in their own garage, he left the wheelbarrow in the open space next to the Buick and he checked and double-checked to make sure the door was locked once again and then he and Beth went out of the other door, going into the backyard. When it came to the garden, Daryl listened to Beth's instructions closely since he had no idea how to do anything about planting and toiling in the soil. With the extra dirt they had gathered, they were able to add a bit more of ground to the garden and as they began digging and planting, the wind was picking up and they heard a distant rumbling of thunder.

They didn't rush though. They took their time, even as the first drops began falling, and they were able to plant the last cucumber plant just as lightning streaked across the sky.

They stayed outside for another minute more, washing the dirt from their hands and faces, and once they were cleaned off for the most part, they finally went inside. Beth got them the towels found in the bathroom that day she took a bath and they took off their boots and dried themselves off and she went into the back bedroom to change into dry clothes and Daryl went into the bathroom to do the same and when he came back out, thunder was rumbling over the roof and the rain was falling harder and he went to go and light a fire in the fireplace in the family room. Luckily, the people here had stored plenty of dry firewood but Daryl knew he'd have to go out and cut more and he'd have to do it pretty soon.

He was locking up the back door and pushing the table against it when Beth came out again, braiding her damp hair off her face. She smiled at him and went into the kitchen to get them something to eat for a late lunch.

With bowls of baked beans, they sat in front of the fire, warming themselves and listening to the storm.

"It must be late April or early May," Beth mused. "With the buds blooming, I think it might be May. Not that it really matters. I'm just trying to figure out growing season."

"May sounds 'bout right," Daryl nodded in agreement. "Weather feels like May. If all those vegetables outside give us somethin' and with all the tuna and rice we got from the kit we found, we're gonna be fine with food for a long time if we keep rationin' it the way we've been."

Beth nodded in agreement. "And with your impeccable hunting skills, too," she added and there the damn tips of his ears went, turning red.

After eating, Beth put her dirty bowl aside and she reached for the paperback book they had been reading from over the past few nights. Though it was usually something they did after dinner, with the storm raging outside, there wasn't much else to do right now. So she opened the book and began to read from where they had left off with MacPherson and Mary and Daryl finished the rest of his lunch, never missing a word.

He didn't know how long she read but one chapter led into another and he didn't care because they were both deep into the story now and he liked the sound of her voice. Gentle and steady and strong all at the same time.

Sometime during the third chapter she read, she moved and stretched herself out along the longer couch – the one he slept on – and Daryl remained sitting on the floor, his back resting against the couch behind him, feeling the heat from her hip on the back of his neck and he found himself closing his eyes, his entire body feeling completely lax.

"…Anyway, Mary said, he's an old dog, I've no right to drag him around for my sake. He will be much safer and happier here. And these people are good. They will care for him. "And if he pines for ye?" "No fear of that. I am easy to leave." Mary looked skyward, at all the innumerable stars in the blackness. "And easier still to forget." She wasn't sure why she had said that. It sounded so small and sad, and she hastened to hide what it might have revealed by diverting his focus. "Which way is your home from here?"

Beth's voice had grown quieter as she read those words before it trailed off altogether and he turned his head to look at her. The book was still open in her hands but her eyes were focused on the ceiling and he could hear her taking soft, deep breaths, as if trying to keep herself from getting upset.

 _I am easy to leave and easier still to forget_.

Daryl wasn't an idiot and he knew that reading those words had hit her. And suddenly, watching her try to keep from showing her sadness, Daryl knew the moment had come. He could care less about their family right now. Beth was his family and she was the only one – the only thing – he cared about right now and Beth Greene was unforgettable.

He turned so he was crouched at her side next to the couch. "Beth," he said her name and she instantly looked at him, the unshed layer of moisture in her eyes obvious to him. He didn't stop from reaching out and resting his hand over hers.

"I know you wanna keep lookin' for 'em," he said. "But I don't. I wanna stay here. We have a good place here and I don't wanna leave it."

Beth looked at him, not saying anything, and he found himself almost holding his breath because he had no idea what her response to that would be.

But then, she shifted and sat up and Daryl moved himself back a fraction of an inch to give her room to do so. She leaned into him then and wrapped her arms around his neck and she hugged him tightly. He was far past the point of flinching when she did that and his hands lifted, one resting on her thigh and the other on her hip.

"I don't want to leave this place either," she whispered to him and he exhaled the heavy held breath and closed his eyes with relief.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment! I know some have been wanting Daryl to teach Beth self-defense and no worry. It's coming up!  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**I wasn't expecting to update this chapter until Monday but I started writing it this morning and it just flew out of me. I wasn't expecting to write it this quickly but I just got excited. And in response to some of the comments I've been getting, just remember that the last time we saw Daryl truly happy was when he was in the funeral home, prepared to stay there for an indefinite amount of time with Beth.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twelve.**

On the eighty-fifth day, Beth actually woke up before Daryl. He was snoring softly on the couch and she laid there for a moment on her own couch, watching him with a faint smile. He seemed so relaxed and peaceful as he slept and if anyone needed that, it was Daryl. He didn't rest nearly enough and even though they had both decided they would be staying here, he seemed hesitant to get himself fully comfortable here.

Moving slowly so not to wake him up, Beth pushed the blanket from her and sat up, grabbing her nearby boots and tugging them on. She stood up, cracking her back and stretching her arms over her head, and she then went to him, covering him with the blanket once more that he had kicked off during the night. Taking the roll of toilet paper with her, she then headed towards the laundry room, through the garage and to the door that led into the backyard.

Going to the buckets on the side of the far side of the house, behind the evergreen, she crouched down over the first one designated for pee and she relieved herself, hearing the birds chirping and the growls of a walker alike. She finished and wiped and stood up again, buttoning her jeans, coming around from behind the tree. She saw the top of the walker's head, stumbling between the two houses, and catching a whiff of her, it turned and came to the fence. Beth nearly took a step backwards before she was quick to remind herself that the fence was strong and the walker couldn't get her. Besides, it was a walker. The countless one that Beth had seen and there was no reason to be afraid of one single walker - especially with a sturdy fence between them.

She pulled her knife from the sheath and gripped her fingers around the handle tightly. The walker was angrier now, its growls louder as it banged stubbornly into the fence over and over again, trying to get to her. Beth took a deep breath and approached the fence. It was just a walker. She had killed dozens. There was no reason to be nervous or scared and she was tired of acting like she was.

Holding her knife tightly, she went to the fence and stepped up on the small ledge that surrounded the bottom of the fence and she was now able to easily see the walker over the top of the rock layer. The walker snarled and stretched her arms out to grab her. Beth brought her arm up and back and sank the blade into the walker's head, the body dropping heavily to the ground within an instant. With another deep breath, she stepped down into the grass once more and wiped her blade across her thigh. When she turned back away from the fence, towards the house one more, she half-expected Daryl to be standing there, watching her, but the yard was empty and he was still inside.

She crossed the yard to the rain barrel located at the downspout and she splashed the cool water on her face, breathing with relief as it hit her skin. It was still cool out that morning but as the sun began rising higher, she could feel the heat that it would bring.

It was laundry day and she would take their blankets, towels and spare clothes down to the creek to wash with Daryl coming with her and she knew Daryl wanted to go hunting today, too. He had mentioned that with the weather getting warmer, there will be warm animals out and about. They didn't have any vegetables yet but Beth was already craving the rabbit stew they would be able to make in probably just a few weeks' time.

Speaking of vegetables, once her face was washed and she had run her fingers through her hair, putting it up into a fresh ponytail, she turned towards their garden. With the recent rains, everything looked green and perky and Beth smiled at just the sight of it. They were really doing it. They were really growing a vegetable garden, here, in the small backyard of their small house. Their _home_. She couldn't still quite believe the relief she felt when Daryl told her that he wanted to stay because she wanted to stay, too.

Beth felt a twinge of guilt; that perhaps they were giving up on their family and just throwing in the towel and ending the search. But it didn't seem as if their family was searching much for them either. And she wasn't trying to be petty or hurt by that. It just was the way it was. The family had split off and gone their own ways and this was the way she and Daryl had decided to go. They were making a home for themselves – a _good_ safe home – and she wasn't going to allow herself to rain on that parade.

They had taken the walker Daryl had brought into the yard and fixing it posts and using some of the rope from the kit, they had strung it up and set it a bit away from the garden – not wanting rotting flesh to be so close to their food but enough to scare off curious birds and walkers alike. Beth hoped that the smell of a walker would soon be able to fend off other walkers. So far, it seemed to be hit or miss. Walkers still stumbled to the fence but they weren't a number that she and Daryl couldn't handle.

A sudden sharp scream rose through the morning air and Beth jumped with the abruptness of it, taking her by surprise. It sounded like the high-pitch bark of a dog and it sounded close. Whatever it was barked again, almost so high-pitched, it was like a scream and it sounded as if it was just on the other side of their fence. What was it? She thought it was a dog but she had never heard a dog make quite that kind of pitch.

She heard Daryl hurrying from the house, coming through the backdoor with his crossbow in his hands and all sleep wiped from his eyes.

"Where is it?" He asked her.

"What is it?" She asked him.

It barked again and Beth almost winced. That noise was going to announce to every walker nearby of its presence. Whatever it was, she and Daryl couldn't let that happen.

"'s a fox," he said and moved towards the back garage door, Beth hurrying behind him.

They slipped out the side door and walked along the side of the house and fence and turning the corner, lying in the tall grass in a little ball, was a small fox with beautiful red fur and his cries growing sharper and louder.

"It's his paw," Beth said after looking at the animal for just a moment. "He's hurt it somehow." She began lowering herself to her knees but Daryl stopped her, grabbing her arm – not a grip tight enough to hurt her but tight enough to stop her.

"'s a wild animal, Beth," he frowned at her and she frowned at him in return.

"It's a baby, Daryl, and it's hurt," she told him in a tone that she made sure he knew there was no use in arguing with her on this and she sank down to her knees, Daryl not stopping her this time as he gripped his crossbow and his eyes cut sharply around, on the lookout for the animal's cries to gain them unwanted attention.

She wore her plaid shirt with a tee-shirt layered beneath it and she took the top layer off, making sure she moved slowly so not to scare the animal even more than it already was. "There, there, little one," she spoke in a gentle voice and was relieved when the fox allowed her to wrap him up in her shirt. "Let's take you inside and get you fixed."

She lifted the fox up, cradling him as she used to cradle Judith, and the fox's cries had quieted down but it was still whining in obvious pain. Beth began heading back towards the garage door and Daryl was close behind her.

Once the door was locked securely behind them once again, Beth carried the fox into the backyard and set him gingerly onto their picnic table. She took a moment to look over the animal, to see exactly what the cause of distress was, and she was grateful to her daddy in that moment for taking the time to show her basic care with animals. She had once expressed interest in maybe becoming a vet like him and Hershel had been more than happy to show his youngest daughter what he knew.

"It's his foot. He's hurt it somehow," Beth concluded after the quick examination. Daryl was frowning and she knew he didn't approve. To him, this fox could be their breakfast but Beth was not going to let him sink a bolt into it. They would eat something else.

There were three trees in the backyard – the evergreen, the cherry tree blossoming in the back corner, and a small maple tree that had been planted right before all of this happened and was still young but growing strong. Beth took her knife out and approached that tree, cutting two small branches that wouldn't hurt the tree to be missing them and she returned to the table and to the fox. She paused, thinking what her next step was. She needed something to make a splint and tie the wood to the paw.

She looked to Daryl. "Can I use your bandana?" She asked and his frown was immediate and the only answer she needed.

Still with her knife out, she turned to the plaid shirt the fox was still wrapped in but as she lifted the blade, prepared to cut the sleeves, she heard Daryl sigh heavily and a moment later, he was pulling the bandana out from his back pocket and holding it out for her to take.

"Don't rip it though," he said, still frowning. "Just wrap it up without ripping it."

Beth nodded and as she wrapped the bandana around the two sticks, binding them to the fox's paw, she began humming. She didn't recognize the tune but whatever it was, it seemed to be keeping the fox calm and quiet.

"Why are you doin' this?" Daryl asked after a moment and her humming had drifted off.

Beth shrugged her shoulders and lifted her eyes to find him watching her intently. She felt a flush on the back of her neck though she wasn't too sure why. They had been together for enough days now for her to be used to Daryl looking at her. Maybe it was because only recently, she realized how handsome he was and even after the end of the world, she was still a girl who liked attention that came from a handsome man.

"It needs our help," she told him and in her mind, that was more than enough reason. She made the final knot and looking over her work, she smiled. "There. All done," she told both the fox and Daryl, smiling down at the animal – who was completely quiet now – and then at Daryl, and he was still looking at her. "We'll get him some water and then we'll head to the creek for laundry. Did you still want to go hunting, too?"

"Seems like breakfast came to us today," he said, looking to the fox, studying him.

"Don't even think about it, Daryl Dixon," she said and gave him a frown.

"You just met the thing and you already like the fox more than me," he grumbled.

"Yep," she answered him with a cheerful smile and she saw the way his lips twitched in a smile at that.

She moved into the house, returning a moment later from the kitchen with a little plastic lid that had been found on a random empty food container. She went to the rain barrel and filled the lid with water before returning to the picnic table, placing it down in front of the fox. "There you go," she smiled warmly down at the animal and watched as he sniffed at the water curiously and then a moment later, his tongue darted out to have a taste of it.

She looked back to Daryl and he was still watching her but his expression was one she hadn't seen before. It was almost as if he had never seen her before and this was the first morning he had ever laid eyes upon her. She didn't know why he was looking at her like that and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. She had never had someone look at her like that. Like she was amazing and a mystery all at the same time; like she was something far more important than she actually was.

She quickly darted her eyes away, not wanting to sever the connection but feeling the air suddenly too heavy around her, she wasn't too sure what to do except look away.

She went back into the house and began gathering the blankets, towels and their spare clothes, throwing everything into a canvas shopping bag that they found in one of the cars scattered and abandoned around the neighborhood the week before. She also took one of the hotel bars of soaps to take with her and she came outside to find Daryl splashing water on his face and she went to him, holding out one of the towels for him.

"Thanks," he grunted and patted his face dry. "Gonna be a warm one today."

She nodded in agreement, looking up to the crystal clear blue sky with not a puff of a cloud visible to her eye.

"Ready?" Daryl asked and tossed the towel back into the bag.

"We need to eat breakfast," she said even as they headed towards the garage door.

"I'll find us somethin' out there," Daryl told her and she didn't doubt him.

They locked the doors up tight and headed through the grass towards the trees, taking the path that was now familiar to them that led to the creek. There was a smooth flat rock on the bank that she had already used for laundry once before and she went there now, dumping the contents of the bag out onto the ground and finding another stone for rubbing and unwrapping the soap.

She lifted her head to see if Daryl was going to help – because he had helped last time they had laundry day – but his body had gone still and his bow was aimed up and she knew that he was hunting something. She kept herself quiet as she began soaking the clothes in the cold creek water and then scrubbing them with the soap on the rock. Doing laundry was the most tedious task nowadays – it felt like – but it was something that had to be done. Wearing something clean was as refreshing as taking a bath.

She saw Daryl take slow steps in the direction to the right of her and she watched him for a moment, and the way his body tightened and crouched down closer to the ground, the way his arms held the crossbow steady and the way the muscles in his arms supported the weapon strongly. Watching him hunt made her throat grow dry and she quickly dropped her eyes back to her task before he could feel her watching him.

It seemed as if he wasn't the only one who was doing some watching lately.

Her cheeks felt warm as she scrubbed and washed and wrung out, over and over again. After done with each piece, she returned it to the bag to take home and dry out in the sun in their yard. Their home. Their yard. It still almost sounded too good to be true; that she and Daryl had found a place like this. A seemingly simple place but a safe one. Well, a safe one now that they had done their best to make it so.

They had worked so hard over the past month to make this a place where they could stay. Maybe not forever but… well, why not forever? Why couldn't they stay here? If they made it as safe as they could, there would be no reason to move on from it. They had shelter, fence, food and water. What more did they need? They could make this place work and Beth wanted it to. More than anything. And Daryl wanted that, too. They both wanted to stay and they were going to make a serious go of it here.

And they could do it. When she was with Daryl, Beth felt like they could do anything.

She was almost done washing the last of the towels when she heard leaves rustling and then the firing of a bolt. Beth lifted her head to see what he had gotten and she burst into a smile when he appeared from a clumping of bushes a little bit away, approaching her, holding a fat grey rabbit by the ears and seeing her smile, Daryl smiled a little, too.

"Some berries in these bushes back here, too. Safe for us to eat," he said.

Her smile grew. "We can boil the berries and add a little bit of our sugar and make a berry glaze and roast the rabbit. We'll have a feast," her smile grew and he looked at her and his slight smile remained.

xxx

Their lunch turned out exactly how Beth wanted it to. Daryl cleaned and roasted the rabbit and she worked on the glaze and they sat at the picnic table outside, eating and trying to remember the last time they had something so delicious.

The fox sniffed at the food curiously and Beth smiled as Daryl gave the animal a bit of the meat and berries to eat. For being such a gruff grizzly bear on the outside, Daryl wasn't like that at all if a person got the time to get to know him. And Beth was so grateful she had gotten the time and it didn't matter how much time they spent together. It never felt as if it was enough, or would ever be enough, and she wondered how it would have been – or where she would be right now – if she had gotten out of the prison with anyone besides him.

"Can you teach me something?" She asked, breaking the silence between them.

Daryl didn't say anything. He just lifted his eyes and looked at her and waited for her to continue and now that he was looking at her intently as he was doing so often now, she felt her cheeks warm at his attention.

"It's safer here but we know that no place is completely safe," she began and for some reason, she felt nervous with what she was going to ask even though she couldn't imagine him refusing her and her request. "Would you mind showing me how to protect myself? Like if something…" she couldn't speak those words though. She didn't want to. She didn't want to think about what had happened to her and what had _almost_ happened. She'd rather just pretend that it had never happened though she knew she couldn't do that. "I want to be able to keep myself safe," she said and her voice was strong and steady and she hoped that Daryl was able to hear how much she wanted him to do this for her. She had been attacked once and she didn't want it to happen twice.

He didn't say anything as he finished the rest of his rabbit and sucked off his fingers. But then he nodded. "A'right," he agreed and Beth exhaled a breath she had been holding without even being aware of doing so.

They cleaned off their dishes with the extra water they had lugged back from the creek with them and Beth hung their towels, clothes and blankets over the fences to dry in the warm sun and once everything was seen to, and she made sure the fox was safe and comfortable, still wrapped up in her shirt on top of the picnic table, she and Daryl met in the middle of the backyard.

They stood facing one another, a few feet between them and she felt nervous. She couldn't help it. She knew she wasn't going to be hurt; that Daryl wouldn't hurt her. But she didn't want him to see how inept she was right now at being able to fight and protect herself. She was as strong as the other women they knew but she needed help and she needed _his_ help and she didn't want him to make comparisons in his head about her.

"A'right. Le's see how you much you know," he began as he shook out his arms, loosening himself up in preparation for a fight.

"I don't know anything," Beth shook her head.

"I'll judge that," he replied. "I'm gonna charge you and you follow your instincts."

Beth visibly swallowed at that but she didn't protest. She didn't shake her head or say anything at all. She asked for him to do this. To teach her and train her and she was not going to show him how nervous she now was that it was actually happening.

Daryl took sudden quick steps towards her and unfortunately, her first instinct was to shrink back and cower, clenching her eyes shut. When a moment of nothing happening passed, she opened one eye to see Daryl standing in front of her, not touching her; just looking at her. Her cheeks immediately exploded into a blush.

"Sorry," she murmured.

Daryl shook his head. "Don't apologize. That's why we're doin' this. Wanna go again?"

She nodded her head quickly.

"Keep your eyes open and 'member one thing. I got a part on me that you don't."

Beth looked at him, curiosity and confusion obvious on her face, and he smirked a little.

"Men got nuts, Beth, and you don't," he said, his amusement obvious growing as her face flamed an even darker shade of red. "You kick a guy in the nuts, you got one over 'im jus' like that."

"I'm not going to kick you in… I'm not going to kick you _there_ , Daryl," Beth said.

"'preciate it," he said and he was still smirking. He took a step closer to her. "A'right. First lesson. Guy comes up to you and grabs your arm. What do you do?" His fingers closed around her arm near her wrist and instinctively, even though she knew it was wrong, she tried to jerk it back. Daryl shook his head. "Nah. With me grippin' your arm, rotate your arm so my arm is forced to turn with yours."

He showed her with slow movements, guiding her arm, showing her how to break the grip, and she tried to ignore how warm her skin felt as his fingers lingered on her skin. They did it over and over again, going over the movements. He gripping her left arm and then her right, changing things up, having her practice with each side. They moved slowly for a while and then they began to speed up. Over and over again, the same movements until Beth was getting more and more comfortable; until she was able to move at the quickened pace Daryl was setting for them.

She felt the sun moving over their heads as an hour and then another hour passed. She felt sweat drip down the back of her neck and she could see his own sweat droplets rolling down the sides of his face, his hair plastering to his head. She didn't know how long he wanted them to practice and even though she was getting tired, she didn't want to stop. She knew there were other moves but she knew he wanted her to perfect this one first. There would be others to learn on other days but right now, there was only this. And she _would_ perfect it. She would learn everything he had to teach her because she didn't doubt that this was going to very well save her life someday.

"Good," Daryl murmured as she easily twisted her arm from his grip on the countless time they ran the drill and his fingers slid over her arms and she tried to just tell herself that it was the warmth of working out under the sun that was making her feel heat creep everywhere over her body. "Good girl," he then said in a softer voice and she was sweating and yet, she still felt a shiver able to rake down her spine.

They were so close to one another now, she didn't know what heat was from his body and what heat was coming from the sun.

And she didn't know what she was thinking. Maybe she wasn't thinking at all. Maybe the sun had gotten to her and she was overheated and tired to be thinking clearly. All she saw was Daryl standing in front of her, dirty and sweaty, and she felt his hands on her arms, their bodies standing so close to one another, she wondered if he was able to hear the rapid beating of her heart within her chest because she could certainly hear it.

 _Don't, Beth. Don't,_ she warned herself, yelling at herself in her mind but she clearly wasn't listening to herself. Because one minute, her hands were wrapped around his arms and the next, she was on her toes, her arms were around his shoulders and her lips were pressed to his.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading, please comment and I hope you have a good weekend!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Such a warm response to the last chapter and this story in general. THANK YOU so, so much! I do have a plan to bring in other characters from the show and it will be happening soon.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Thirteen.**

The air smelled of the earth. Dirt and rain and flowers blooming. Of spring. Of Beth.

Despite having spent the morning down at the creek, washing and scrubbing and doing laundry, and then fighting with him in the sun for the past couple of hours, getting sweaty and tired, Daryl swore that he could smell her. And she smelled like lavender.

Not too many things surprised him anymore. Dead people were literally walking around the earth. A person sort of got used to the shocking after that. But Beth Greene had just wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him and had surprised the hell out of him and she could damn well knock him onto his ass right now if that's what she wanted to do. He hadn't even known she had _wanted_ to kiss him. Should he have known that? And had she been thinking about doing this or was she just acting without thinking? It had been them for over eighty days now and they had gotten close – closer than he knew would have ever happened if they hadn't lost the prison – and maybe she was just feeling lonely. He knew how Beth was. She liked being close to people and being open and affectionate and since he was pretty much her only option right now, maybe that was the only reason she was kissing him.

It was the only reason that really made sense to him. Girls like Beth Greene – filled with goodness and sunshine and who was surrounded by death but still smelt like lavender – didn't kiss guys like him. End of the world or not, they just didn't.

And despite telling himself all of this, Daryl slowly felt his hands raise and come to a rest on her hips, touching her lightly and yet, his touch still feeling heavy on her body. Beth's lips moved against his and the suddenness in which she had first kissed him had slowed and it was now gentle and not quite so hard. His eyes had slowly closed before he even realized it and his lips pressed back against hers with the slightest bit of pressure.

He wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted. Probably no more than a handful of seconds but he felt her lips slowly pulling back from his and his eyes instantly opened. Her eyes fluttered open a moment later and as soon as she saw him looking at her, her cheeks exploded in a blush and her arms slid away from his shoulders, coming to hang at her sides. She did her best to give him a smile but it couldn't quite take hold and stay.

"I'm sorry for attacking you like that," she said in a rush and Daryl was surprised to find himself feeling almost relieved that she wasn't apologizing for actually kissing him.

He looked at her and despite what had just happened – what had just changed – he felt his lips quirk up in a little bit of a smile. "Know how to handle myself," he said with a raise of his shoulders and she looked at him and this time, when she smiled, it reached her eyes and glowed on her cheeks and it was a _Beth_ smile.

He wondered if they would have some big discussion about it. Beth liked to talk and he just assumed that she would want to talk about this since them kissing could be a big deal and he felt the slightest tense knot grow between his shoulder blades in anticipation. He wasn't good at talking – especially about what he was thinking or feeling – and he wondered if he would say something that would mess this all up.

And then he realized that he didn't want to mess this all up; that having Beth kiss him wasn't the worst thing in the world. Actually, it was the best thing to happen to him in a long time and his lips were still quivering a little from the contact of hers. In the past eighty-five days, he hadn't thought about kissing her but now that they had, he wondered when they would kiss again.

Beth seemed to know that he wasn't ready for a conversation and maybe she didn't want to have one either. Maybe them kissing was just one of those things that – surprisingly enough – felt natural and didn't need to be talked about.

She exhaled a deep breath and still smiled at him and brushed hair from his face. "Alright. So what's the next move?" She asked.

It took him a second longer than it should have to realize that she was talking about these self-defense lessons and he couldn't help but smirk at himself.

"A'right," he said and cleared his throat. He slowly reached out and took her hand, now focusing on the softness of her skin, and he saw her visibly swallow. "The throat. Once you get your arms free from my hold, you're gonna hit me here." He gently pulled on her hand, bringing it to the front of his throat, across his trachea and her fingers touched his skin and he knew his sweat had nothing to do with the sun overhead.

They worked for a couple more hours, perfecting two more of the moves he wanted her to know in case something ever happened and he wasn't here and she had to keep herself alive. He knew Beth wasn't to that point – where she would be able to take someone else's life and the truth was, he didn't want her there. She was too good for it even though he knew, the way this world had gone, she'd have to eventually.

When they broke for the afternoon, as the sun began dipping towards the west, and there were two walkers snarling at the walls and they could hear cicadas singing, Beth went to the rain barrel to splash water onto her face and Daryl went to go take care of the walkers. When he turned, Beth was at the picnic table, humming a soft song as she gently checked on the fox's leg.

He nearly snorted, remembering that damn flea-ridden dog at the funeral home and how excited she had been at the prospect of having a dog around them. That fox didn't know it but it had just been adopted by her and she wasn't going to be letting him go. Daryl knew it, too, and he hoped the fox would be useful to them. Fox were hunters of vermin and maybe if the fox stayed, it could help keep their vegetable garden safe.

Beth tenderly picked the fox up, cradling him in her arms – and the fox looking damn content to be cradled by Beth (not that Daryl could blame him) – and she carried the fox into the house. Seemed as if he'd be sleeping inside with them tonight.

Daryl took his time before going in. First he went to the piss bucket on the side of the house and then walked around the backyard, checking the fences for any weak spots. But the warm sun had baked their cement and the bricks and rocks weren't moving. It was spring but the nights were still cool but maybe, when it got warm out, they'd start sleeping outside. He knew there really wasn't a point to it. They had a house – small but strong – and sleeping inside helped them feel a little bit of normalcy – and something like that wasn't important to Daryl but he knew it was important to Beth. He just, sometimes still, hated the thought of feeling like he was being caged in.

When he walked through the backdoor into the kitchen, he saw Beth in the family room, kneeling in front of the fire, stoking the flames back to life, and she had made a little bed for the fox on one of the large throw pillows from the couch, setting the animal on the floor close to the flames but not too close. Daryl always walked quietly so he didn't know it Beth knew he had come inside or not but she didn't turn her head to look at him and he took the chance to just look at her for a couple of seconds.

How the hell did this happen? End of the damn world and he found himself alone with the prettiest girl left. And not just that but the prettiest girl left had kissed him. It was just the two of them and they were staying here and making a home for themselves. And thoughts of their family lingered in the back of his head – and he knew they probably did with Beth, too – but staying here with her, it was what he wanted. He knew Rick was out there somewhere – he had to be – but if he found a place to settle down for a little bit, Daryl knew that he would. Daryl knew Rick wouldn't be angry at him for just wanting to stay put in one spot if he got the chance to.

And with everything he and Beth were working on and doing here, Daryl knew that this place had a real shot of working out for them.

She must have felt his eyes settled on her then because Beth turned her head and saw him standing there, watching her, and she gave him a smile. She stood up and lingered in front of the fireplace for a moment.

"I'm still kind of stuffed from lunch," she said. "Do you just want some rice for dinner?"

"Sounds good," he said with a head nod and moved to close the door behind him and swing the crossbow from off his shoulder and she came into the kitchen, reaching for the heavy plastic container of rice. "How hard is it to grow rice?" He heard himself ask.

She smiled a little. "Hard. We'd need the room and we'd have to keep the fields flooded the whole time. I had an uncle in Arkansas, my mama's brother, who had rice fields. Daddy always said that Uncle Dean grew two things. Rice and mosquitoes."

"'m gonna start to really work on the car in the garage," Daryl told her because this was what they did. They thought of things and said them out loud because they didn't keep stuff from one another – especially when everything had to do with the other. "If I get it started, we can start drivin' and makin' runs. Maybe come 'cross some Minute Rice or somethin'," he said even though he doubted it. This place had been a goldmine and he didn't expect to come across another one.

Beth smiled though and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I actually want to go to a few of the houses again tomorrow."

"For what?"

"Books. On gardening," she added. "Just to make sure I'm doing it right."

Daryl shrugged. "Can't imagine you doin' it wrong," he said and she smiled at him for that.

He looked at her and she moved into him then. His eyes stayed on her face, wanting to be ready this time, and she stood herself on her toes, one of her hands resting lighting on his chest for balance, and her lips brushed across his cheek, near the corner of his mouth, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning into her.

He closed his eyes and dipped his head down, his nose grazing across her ear. Lavender. He was going to try and find her another lavender bar of soap.

Their night was quiet as all of their nights were now. They cooked their rice and ate on the couch and they then played a couple games of checkers in front of the fire. They didn't read tonight, Beth explaining that she had been reading out loud so much lately, her throat was filling a little tender and she said it with a little laugh even though hearing her say something like that made Daryl frown. He didn't want her throat feeling tender – not even a little. He wished he was a better reader. He did read and he could read. He wasn't that big of an idiot. But he couldn't read like Beth. When she read, it was like she was singing – her voice all soft and melodic and soothing.

After three games of checkers – him winning two and Beth winning one – they went outside for one last perimeter check. And all was quiet.

"'m gonna stay out here and have a last smoke," he said on the steps of the back patio.

And she knew that he was going to keep himself on watch for a while but she didn't say anything about it. She just nodded and gave him a soft smile and he wondered if she would kiss him again.

"Good night, Daryl," she said quietly.

She didn't.

With one last smile, she went into the house and he stayed outside, pulling the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, popping one into his mouth and lighting it. The sky was like black ink, too many stars to count visible tonight but no moon. The wind was blowing in from the south that night and he could hear the faint lazy hoot of an owl somewhere out in the woods. And then… then he heard something else. It wasn't nearby but it was close enough to where his ears perked up and his body went still. He held his breath as he waited to hear it again and then he did. Somewhere out in the woods, someone laughed. A man's laugh - short but long enough for Daryl to know that someone was there. Somewhere close to his and Beth's house.

He took one more quick drag from the cigarette and then dropped it onto the step, stubbing it out with his boot. He turned and poked his head in through the back door. Beth was on the couch, curled into a little ball beneath her blanket, already fast asleep. He silently closed the door and he stepped down from the patio, his crossbow in his arms. He walked on silent steps – practically gliding rather than walking at all. Through the garage, along the side of the house, through the tall grass that grew in back and then into the woods.

He didn't think about what he was doing. There was no reason to think about it because it had to be done. He didn't care what kind of people these were that were out in _their_ woods, making camp. No matter what kind of people they were, they couldn't stay. He knew that Beth thought there were still good people and maybe the man he had shot with a bolt in the garden on one of their first days had been a good man and maybe these people were good people but he couldn't take the chance. Not with Beth here with him and having to keep her safe.

He had no problem killing a person if he was killing that person for _her_.

Daryl was able to melt into the darkness of the woods, his shape being lost among the trees, and even in the dark, his steps were silent over sticks and fallen leaves. He walked towards where the laugh had come from – moving as quickly as he could but making sure that he still stayed silent above all else.

Over the creek and a few hundred feet past that. He could see the flickering of flames and he frowned at how high these people had made their fire. They should have dug a hole and built it in there but their amateur mistake didn't matter to him. It wouldn't matter in a few more minutes – especially to them.

Daryl stopped behind a tree, watching from around it, his crossbow to his shoulder. There were three of them. Two men and a woman. Daryl swallowed at the sight of her but he didn't change his mind on what he had to do. He couldn't kill the two men and let the woman go free. Anyone nowadays could want revenge and he couldn't risk it.

"Tomorrow, we'll find some water. Maybe get us some fish," one of the men said.

The woman snorted at that. "How the hell do you plan on catching fish? With your hands?" She asked and she looked young – probably in her thirties – but her voice was rough. Reminded Daryl of his mom's for a second. This woman was a heavy smoker.

"How the hell you think the cavemen caught fish?" The man fired back. "Ain't like they had their own tackle boxes to use."

"That's something I didn't think of looking for," the other man spoke up. "Tackle box. These woods can't go on forever. Maybe we'll come on a house tomorrow."

Daryl's body tightened at that. No, they wouldn't.

But he didn't make his move yet.

"Who's taking first watch?" The woman asked.

Daryl stood there, hidden, listening as they talked for almost five minutes about who would take watch as the other two got some sleep. It was amazing to him that they had survived this long. They didn't sound that bright and even when he and Beth weren't talking to one another, they both knew what they had to do to keep themselves alive.

Beth. He knew she'd hate it and she'd never kiss him again if she found out but he was doing this for her. To keep her safe. He thought of the Polaroid picture of her that he still kept in his back pocket. He'd kill a hundred people to keep her safe.

He heard it long before they did. Scraping of feet along the forest floor, leaves dragging with the steps and Daryl's fingers tightened around the crossbow, knowing that the walker was only getting closer, drawn towards the noise and the fire and Daryl wondered if he should just let the walker do the job for him. But no. These three may have been idiots but they had made it this far and this long and between the three of them, they could take down one walker.

So, he waited. He waited until the walker got closer and they finally heard it, all stopping their bickering about watch and they stood up, grabbing their weapons – knives and a gun. Idiots were going to use a gun to take down one walker. Daryl was finding killing these people easier to justify with himself.

The walker came through the trees on the other side of the fire opposite Daryl and as they were focused on that, Daryl made his move.

He fired his crossbow towards the woman, taking care of her first with a bolt swiftly through the head, killing her instantly. One of the men turned in surprise, watching as his companion fell to the ground, and then he turned to see Daryl coming from behind the tree. His eyes widened and he raised his hand with the gun, aiming it to Daryl but Daryl was already pulling out his knife. He quickly slit the throat of the man and then, just as he finished killing the walker, he turned to see what was going on and Daryl slit the other man's throat. The forest was quiet again as Daryl finished, stabbing both men through their heads.

He stood up then and looked over the small campsite. Three dead bodies and one dead walker. He heard the owl hoot again as he began gathering all of their things. They didn't have much – not surprising to Daryl. He got together their knives and the gun that had just a couple of bullets left in the chamber. A backpack with a few sticks of unopened beef jerky, a box of Ritz crackers and couple of cans of black olives. Daryl swung the backpack up onto his shoulders and then sheathed his knife, pulled the bolt from the woman's head and kicked dirt over the fire, smothering the flames.

Daryl took one last look around, making sure he had gotten everything, and then he disappeared into the blackness of the woods, heading for home.

xxx

"So much damn rain," Daryl grumbled on day eighty-nine as he stood at the back door, watching as the latest thunderstorm rolled through.

"That's a stupid thing to complain about," Beth commented.

And it was. He knew it was. Rain meant their water buckets were filled and the creek kept flowing and their vegetable garden got plenty of drink. It was just so damn annoying. He had things to do out there. Had stuff to check on and make sure it all stayed safe and sound.

She had found hot pink sticky notes in the front office and was now curled up on the couch, reading through the book that they had found in one of the houses a couple of days before, marking certain pages with pink tabs.

Daryl turned away from the door to look at her for a moment before coming over to sit down beside her. She smiled at him and she shifted her body a little closer to him, her arm touching his, her knees drawn up and now turned towards his thigh.

"I made a list," she told him and handed him a piece of paper she had ripped from her journal and he looked at her neat, loopy handwriting.

 _Tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, squash, strawberries, corn. Mystery vegetable._

It was everything growing in their garden and Daryl looked at the list for a moment, not saying anything. He knew they had planted a few things but seeing it all written down like that, it was actually a little overwhelming, he found. Food. They were going to have so much of it. And she was right. Even when the rice and tuna ran out – which it would eventually – they had his hunting skills and all of these vegetables growing and he had said it before but seeing the list, he honestly and truly believed it now.

They were going to be fine. They really were.

"When the rain stops, we'll have to replant the corn," Beth said and moved the book closer to him, leaning so close to him now, she filled his nostrils. He tried to concentrate on the page she was reading from. "Look. For sufficient pollination, plant your plot right. Don't plant two long rows. Rather, plant corn blocks. It requires 60 to 100 days to reach harvest depending on the variety and warm weather. Corn is ready for harvest when ears turn dark green, silks turn brown and kernels are soft and plump. Squeeze a kernel and the juice will be milky not white."

"Stop," Daryl interrupted and he smirked when she looked at him. "You're makin' my stomach growl," he said and she burst into a smile at that, her eyes laughing.

And she leaned in then, her lips meeting his in a kiss that was casual and comfortable and easy all at the same time. She kissed him like they had been kissing for years now.

"We can't have that," she smiled and she handed him the book as she stood up from the couch. She headed into the kitchen and the fox followed her. They had taken the splint off the day before when he began gnawing on the sticks and his leg didn't seem completely healed but the fox was hopping around on three of his paws and seemed fine. He had taken up the habit of following Beth around like a second shadow. She said she wanted to name him since he was theirs now but so far, the thing was still just fox.

Daryl's eyes looked down to the book, reading the paragraphs on growing corn. Was it stupid for him to imagine a cookout in the later summer months of deer and roasted corn? Was it stupid to imagine him and Beth having summer barbecues like that? Like they were just a couple living in the suburbs, enjoying the good life?

"Here we go," Beth said, coming back, breaking through his thoughts. She had a sleeve of the Ritz crackers and two sticks of the beef Jerky with her.

He hadn't told her where he had gotten those things from. How could he? All he said was he found them stashed in a car in the neighborhood and she hadn't questioned it because why would she? He had never lied to her and he wasn't looking to be making a habit of not telling her the truth but he couldn't tell her what he had done.

He knew that probably wasn't the only time he'd have to do it but each time, he would keep it from her. She didn't need to know what he did to keep her and this place safe.

She sat down beside him once again, so close, no space was fit between them – not that Daryl minded – and they began eating their lunch and she took the gardening book back, chewing on a cracker as she turned the page.

Daryl hesitated – because he didn't know if he could do it without feeling like an idiot – but then, he just went for it. He had nothing to lose. He lifted his arm and put it around her shoulders and the smile Beth gave him was worth it. She nestled in close to him and he ate a jerky stick and they looked over the book together.

"You'll get the car fixed," Beth said after a moment and her voice was quiet but confident. "And we'll be able to go on runs and find more stuff to bring back here and we'll find cans, too, and in the fall, we'll be able to store vegetables for the winter."

She turned her head and looked at him with those big eyes of hers and Daryl stared back. It was the end of the world and he had his arm around the prettiest girl left alive, who believed in him completely. And he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

This time, Daryl made the move and lowering his lips to hers, he kissed her first.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**I really love how many different reactions and thoughts there are from everyone in regards to Daryl and what he did in the last chapter. I love writing something that makes readers have a reaction. Some characters from the show will be appearing in the next chapter.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Fourteen.**

She knew that she could ask Daryl for help but she wanted to do this on her own. She was smart and capable and she didn't want to have to rely on him for nearly everything.

So as Daryl slowly followed the footprints of an animal through the trees, Beth knelt on the ground with her gardening book open beside her and the fox at her side, nosing at a scent he had picked up. She had been hesitant to bring him out in the woods past the fence, worried that he would run away, but Daryl had told her that he was a wild animal and if he ran, they couldn't do anything about it. Beth had frowned when he told her that even though she knew he was right. Daryl usually was when it came to things like that. He was blunt and brutally honest and Beth liked to focus on the sunshine.

She hummed a soft song to herself as she consulted the book before looking to the mushrooms growing in front of her before back to the book once more, wanting to be absolutely certain before she picked. The last thing they needed was surviving all of this only to be poisoned by the wrong mushroom.

"This is the one," she said softly to herself, confidently, and began to gently pick the golden-yellowish mushrooms that grew at the base of the oak tree.

She had plans for dinner tonight and after picking these mushrooms, she would pick more of those berries that they had eaten with their rabbit a few days before and there was also a chapter on bark and forest greens. She never thought she would have to eat bark or actually want to and thinking about bark reminded her of those men – from before, desperate to do anything for food – but she wasn't going to be feeding her and Daryl bark because they were starving. She was going to make dinner from bark and other things of the woods because she wanted to learn how to survive.

And this was how they would do it. They would scavenge and hunt and plant and their diets would change – they already had – and their bodies would adjust and they would be able to live and not be driven to desperation or death by starvation.

She kept humming softly so not to attract unwanted attention by things lurking or stumbling in the woods and from the corner of her eye, she watched the fox, who was now digging in the dirt at whatever it was that he had smelled, and she kept her ears open for any sound that would alert her to incoming walkers. Or people.

Once she had gathered more than enough mushrooms, she turned to a later chapter in the book and then stood up, taking the basket and book with her and began walking slowly, consulting the book and keeping her eyes on the lookout, not wanting to miss anything that she could add to the soup she'd be making them tonight.

She knew it was silly but walking through the woods with a basket in her hands, with the world quiet and peaceful – at the moment – around her, she felt like Aurora in _Sleeping Beauty_ when she was Briar Rose, living in the woods as a peasant with the three fairies. She couldn't help but giggle at herself. And Daryl was Phillip and he would surprise her and they would fall in love instantly and start dancing and singing about dreams.

They had been together ninety-two days now but she hadn't thought about kissing him for at least seventy of those days. For the first ten or so days, when it had just been them, Beth was certain she had never disliked someone more. But things changed – and burned – and they had gotten closer and now, Beth couldn't imagine not having Daryl as her sole companion in the world. Now, she didn't know what she would do without him and not just because he hunted and kept her fed and safe. But because he was Daryl and every time she saw him, her heart beat a little faster in her chest and when he kissed her, the hairs on his chin scratched her face and made her shiver.

Her mind wandered to thoughts of Maggie and not for the first time, she wondered where her sister was and prayed that wherever she was, she was safe. Beth wondered if Maggie thought of her sometimes; if she had a fleeting thought of the younger sister who had probably died after the prison or because she thought she was dead, did Maggie make herself never think of her? Beth had been angry and hurt at the realization that her sister had cared to find Glenn – and only Glenn – but the anger and hurt had faded away into acceptance. If she was Maggie, she wouldn't put much stock in Beth either, getting out of there alive and still being alive when they had gone ninety-two days without seeing one another.

Beth came across the creek then and she saw a dead walker on the ground, near the water with a familiar wound in the head. A bolt mark. She knew Daryl had been here and was close by, still hunting whatever animal he had been tracking. And now at the creek, she knew those berry bushes were nearby. She was excited at making something different for dinner tonight. She was excited at the idea of trying different things that may or may not work but she would remember everything and keep trying. She thought of the people in the past, when they were learning everything for the first time, and Beth had always loved history and she loved having something in common with them.

The fox was, thankfully, still with her and hadn't run off and he was now at the creek, sitting on the bank, staring into the water. Beth found the bushes with the plump dark red berries and began plucking as many as she thought she would need. She made sure not to pick too many though. Daryl had taught her to take just what was needed and not make a waste of the land around them. The earth needed time to replenish itself and when people were around, they never learned and were always selfish and just took and took without thinking of tomorrow. And Beth wanted them to be living near these woods for a long time and she wanted to be able to have berries.

Hearing a splash, Beth spun around towards the creek just in time to see the fox spring its head down into the water and then it sprang back – with a fish in its mouth.

Beth's own mouth fell open. "Oh my gosh," she breathed and then she burst into a smile. The fox looked at her and then on his three legs, still keeping weight off of his fourth, he came to her and as if presenting her with it, he dropped the fish at her feet.

She let out a breathless laugh and then sank to her knees in front of the fox. "Good boy," she said and then reached out, scratching the fox behind one of his triangle ears and the fox closed his eyes and seemed to actually be smiling, docile as any housebroken dog or cat.

She felt a sudden change in the air around her; as if she was being watched. Beth didn't hesitate in pulling her knife from her sheath as she stood up and spun towards where she thought the person or walker was. But she only saw that it was Daryl, coming towards her, his eyes set on her. And there were three squirrels hanging from his belt.

"Was trackin' a buck," Daryl said as he got closer. "Changed my mind. Too much meat for us right now and nothin' to keep it from gettin' spoiled."

"Daryl, look," Beth said and she eagerly picked up the fish to show him.

Daryl looked at it for a moment and then he blinked down to the fox. "Good boy," he then echoed Beth's words and the fox was looking downright pleased with himself now. Daryl looked back to the fish and smirked a little, shaking his head as if he could hardly believe it. "You got everythin' you were lookin' for?" He then asked Beth.

"Not yet," Beth said, putting the fish into the basket. "Barks and greens still."

"A'right," he said. "Le's get to it. 'm gettin' hungry for this soup you're gonna make us."

And Beth felt her cheeks warm and her stomach flutter and she felt like some ridiculous schoolgirl with her first crush. Who would have ever thought that Daryl Dixon would make her heart pitter-patter?

They stayed out in the woods for a bit more – Beth consulting her book, not wanting to ask Daryl, as she gathered bark and safe greens to eat and Daryl sitting near the creek, sharpening a stick with his knife that he would probably make into another bolt later on if he was able to and watching as the fox sat on the creek bank, watching the water closely. And when the fox dove his head in and got another fish, dropping it this time at Daryl's feet, Beth saw the way Daryl smiled.

And whenever he smiled, Beth felt herself smile, too. He needed to smile more.

The sun was directly overhead when they left the woods and headed home. In the backyard, the day before, Daryl had constructed a fire-pit, digging the hole in the ground and surrounded it with the dirt and a circle of stones, and he now went to it now to start a fire and Beth went into the house to get a pot. With the weather warm now during the days, she decided it would be better to cook outside. Daryl had taken the wire-rack from the rusted and now useless gas grill on their patio and had settled it over the open flame. Beth came out of the house with the basket of her gatherings, the pot, a stirring spoon and a couple of more things taken from their food supply.

She walked across the yard to where he was at the fire-pit and he lifted his head, watching her. She gave him a smile as she settled in the grass and began her work. Daryl took the two fish from the basket and began cleaning them and they worked without talking but it was a comfortable quiet between them. It was always comfortable between them now and it made Beth smile faintly to herself if she thought about it and just how far they had come and what they had made for themselves here and together.

She poured a bottle of water into the pot and then cleaned the mushrooms before dumping those in along with the berries, the greens and strips of the bark. She then took out one of their packets of salt and dumped it in and finally, she took the little container of cinnamon Daryl had found and sprinkled a little bit of that in as well. She stirred everything together and then lifted the pot and leaning over the fire, she set it down on the grill. She exhaled a deep breath and stirred a couple of more times.

When she turned her head, she saw Daryl looking at her.

"What?" She asked, smiling a little; blushing a little.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Looks good," he said though she had a feeling that that wasn't what he really wanted to say to her and he leaned over, gently placing the now clean fish on the grill next to the pot.

For as tough and strong and gruff as Daryl was on the outside, Beth had learned that he was actually stunted on the inside. Not being stupid or anything like that. He had just never learned how to express himself or how to even properly talk about his thoughts. And Beth didn't want to pressure him. Daryl would do it once he felt comfortable. She just knew that she had to show him how and to most of all, be patient.

Beth leaned into him and pressed her lips softly to his and he immediately reacted, his hands lifting up to her face, cradling the sides of her head. She smiled against his lips and slowly adjusted herself so she was sitting down rather than on her knees and her hands crept up his chest to lightly rest on either side of his neck.

They kissed slowly, almost lazily, and Beth wasn't sure how much time had passed. Their lips took quick breaks, only for them able to gulp in a lungful of air before kissing again. Beth felt herself sink against him and his fingers were back now, buried in the hair that had come loose from her ponytail, and she felt this warmth in her chest that she had only ever experienced when with Daryl. She had had boyfriends before but nothing like this. For the first time in her life, she felt like a woman and she was in love with a man.

She believed whole-heartedly in soul mates and destiny and she wondered if this was always supposed to happen. Her and Daryl, being here, together in their own little world. It felt right. So right that Beth didn't doubt it and she couldn't imagine it being any other way.

"Think the fish is burnin'," Daryl murmured against her lips and she giggled softly, pulling her head back from his, their eyes instantly locking.

They looked at one another for another long moment, their lungs filling with air once again, and he then leaned in, placing a gentle tender kiss on her forehead. Beth swore she could feel her heart actually flip within her chest.

The fish was definitely smoking and the soup was bubbling and Daryl stood up to go inside to get them their bowls as Beth stayed at the fire, stirring the soup. She brought the spoon to her mouth and took a small, cautious sip. She was almost amazed that it didn't taste completely awful. Actually, it tasted pretty darn good.

She smiled proudly at herself and resumed stirring.

"We are going to be eating so good today," she smiled at him and he smiled, too.

Beth spooned helpings of the soup into each bowl and Daryl took one of the fish, splitting it in half and dropping it into the two bowls before taking the other fish and tossing it in the grass towards the fox, the animal eagerly gulping down his catch.

They ate their food in silence and Beth smiled to herself as Daryl slurped down his entire bowl before going for seconds of the soup.

"'s real good, Beth," he then told her in case she was wondering.

"I'm so glad we found that book," she smiled. "I'll try and make us other things, too. These woods are going to be good to us."

He smiled a little at that, too, and then cleared his throat, shifting a little as if nervous, clearly ready to say something and change the subject. "'v been thinkin'," he said and he lifted his eyes only to glance at her for a moment before lowering them to his bowl again where he shoved another spoonful of soup into his mouth. "'m gonna start goin' 'round the neighborhood, gettin' bricks and rocks together to work on the fence in the front yard but 'm gonna look for wood, too. If I can find enough…" He paused and ate another spoonful and Beth simply waited for him to continue. "'m gonna build you an outhouse on the side of the house so you don't gotta piss out in the open."

Beth stared at him and she saw the tips of his ears turning red and she felt so overwhelmed in that moment, she didn't know what to say. She couldn't _think_ of words to say and she felt a lump lodge itself in her throat. Times have definitely changed because hearing that this man was going to build her an outhouse, it was one of the most romantic things she had ever heard.

She still couldn't find the words. She didn't even try to. She leaned into him then and it was a bit awkward with his bowl still trapped between them but she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as she could.

xxx

Their days and nights were quiet and they both stayed on guard but Beth could tell they were both getting more and more comfortable with what had become their new home.

They worked hard during the day, foraging in the woods and scavenging in the other houses and building their defenses. They mixed mud, grass and water to make more cement and they found a house with a brick driveway and they spent days, chipping those away and adding them to the fence that encircled the front of their house. The flowers bloomed in the backyard and they had tulips and hyacinths and the woman had had bushes planted that bloomed sweet-smelling purple flowers and consulting her book, Beth found that they were called Rose of Sharon bushes.

They scavenged the houses again – even more thoroughly – and added to their growing possessions. They found another large bucket and kept it next to their garden, which was growing bigger and greener with each passing day. It had been a wet spring and Beth was grateful for it and made sure to thank God each day for it. Their crops were growing and she could see the shapes of vegetables beginning to bud on their vines. She spent most of her days in the garden if not helping Daryl with the fence.

Squirrels and birds had been planting their own things since the end of the world – Daryl called them the best planters there were – and Beth smiled for an entire day when they found out there were a few sunflowers growing in the front yard. The cherry tree in the backyard had their branches heavy with cherries and Beth had been right. They were sour and almost inedible but she picked a basketful anyway and boiling them in water, she tried adding sugar to them to try and make them sweeter but she couldn't taste that much of a difference. Daryl didn't seem to mind though and he ate almost all of them by himself.

They found more clothes and they did laundry and bathed in the creek – still keeping their backs turned to one another because neither was ready for anything like _that_ yet – and they made sure the house and yard was always straightened up – like a true home. Sometimes, Beth woke up and laid there for a moment, looking up at the ceiling, hearing the birds chirp outside and nothing else and she smiled faintly to herself because for a few moments, she could lie there and pretend the world wasn't over.

But it wasn't. It couldn't be because she and Daryl were here and they were living. Not just surviving but actually living with food and water and clean clothes and a fence. They still killed three or four walkers a day but it was so normal, it was just a part of life now.

When it rained, Daryl worked in the garage, determined to get that old Buick in tip top shape and Beth organized and straightened and always sang soft songs as she did it.

And nearly every day, Daryl gave Beth a lesson in self-defense, teaching her a new move or having her practice the ones she already knew, making sure they were perfected and she'd be able to hold her own if anything ever happened because she knew – they both knew – that one of these days, he might have to go somewhere while she stayed behind and he wanted to make sure that she would be ready for it.

At night, after dinner, they played checkers or read and she had been trying to read as slowly as she could but eventually, they had to reach the end of Mary and MacPherson's story and though they had other books to read, she still felt sad at the feeling of reading the last words in the book. There was something about this one – she could see Daryl and herself in the characters and she wondered if Daryl could, too.

Daryl sat on the floor, his back leaning against the couch. One leg was pulled up towards his chest, his arm resting casually on the knee, and his other leg was stretched out, Beth lying beside him and her head resting on his thigh. The sun was staying out longer now in the evenings and she read by the light filling the family room rather than the fire.

"She glanced up, mutely questioning, and Hugh explained, "I killed the wolf with that shot. It protected ye once, and it may yet have power to keep ye from harm." Her eyes started to fill and she quickly looked down. She'd been cared for and loved by her uncle and aunt, but she'd never had anyone show such concern for her welfare as this hardened man of the Highlands, who'd taken the trouble to fashion a charm with the sole aim of keeping her safe in the time when he would not be able to do it himself. When he would not be there at her side."

She wasn't sure why but Beth felt a growing lump in her throat as she read those words and in just three more pages, she read the last word and the book was finished. She exhaled a soft breath as she closed the paperback and they were quiet for a minute or two. She turned on her side, facing the fire, and the fox who was sleeping, curled up in front of it, and she felt Daryl's hand. He didn't touch her head but rather the ends of her hair. She closed her eyes and smiled faintly to herself at his light, almost hesitant, touch.

"You think it ever bothered her?" He asked in his gruff, quiet voice.

Beth opened her eyes and turned her head on his thigh to look back at him, silently asking him exactly what he meant. He looked down at her and she waited.

"Mary. You think it ever bothered her all those guys he killed in the book?" He asked.

Beth was quiet for a moment, thinking it over. In the back of her mind, somehow, she knew that maybe this wasn't exactly a book discussion. Maybe he was thinking of the man from that backyard who they had buried underneath the tree. Or maybe those two men… he had killed them right in front of her but she hadn't been afraid. Not of him. She couldn't imagine ever being afraid of Daryl.

"At first, yes, I think it did. It scared her, that was obvious, and _he_ scared her but that was before she knew him," Beth said.

Daryl didn't say anything to that and even after all of these days together, she still couldn't read his face. Right now, to her, his face looked blank because that's how he wanted it to be. He didn't want her to be able to discern any of his expressions.

"But then she learned that he did it to keep her safe. That he'd do anything to keep her safe," Beth finished in a quiet voice, looking up at him, and he lowered his eyes to look at her and she hoped that he knew this wasn't exactly a book discussion either.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**The next chapter will be from Daryl's POV and I'm already excited to write it. As always, my stories never seem to have that much action in them and I always worry about boring people so I'm so thankful for the support you have been showing this one.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Fifteen.**

They agreed to meet back at the car at the entrance of the St. George's subdivision in an hour. Eric and Aaron would go through the houses near the front and Rosita and Spencer would walk in further, towards the houses built near the back of the development. Rosita walked ahead and Spencer behind, both with their guns in their arms.

She noted that it had once been a nice place. Quiet. One of those newer subdivisions with too big of houses built on too little lots. She tried not to think of how some of it reminded her of Alexandria. It was more run down – after a few years of neglect. Grass growing to her thighs, paint worn and faded from shutters and doors, cars abandoned and rusting on the streets. She had been through dozens of neighborhoods like this and yet, this one caught her attention. It really was quiet. Alexandria had had the illusion of being quiet but not anymore. Too many attacks and too many people dying – and she was used to people dying but she was just sick of it – and Abraham… and Sasha… and she hadn't been able to breathe well there anymore.

She had planned on leaving on her own. She was fine on her own. She had survived this long and there was no reason why she couldn't keep surviving outside those tall walls. She hadn't expected anyone else to come with her. Rick was so determined to fight every single person left alive in this world and he was going to get more people killed and she knew that people were extremely loyal to him but Rosita felt as if she didn't have it in her anymore. Maybe it was a coward's way out – running away – but deep down, she felt like she just had to get away from that place.

Passing by their house, she saw Aaron and Eric outside in their garage, making piles of things, and she had curiously approached them. They were going through their things, deciding on what they should take, because they were leaving, too. They didn't think this place was safe anymore – not like it had been. Not that it ever had been. They got a bad feeling about Rick's next course of action and all of the outsiders circling them and Aaron and Eric were like Rosita. They wanted out while they could still get out.

And then Spencer, he had found out that Rosita was leaving and he decided he would leave with her. Neither of them thought they had some great love story or were in love with one another. They slept together a few times but it wasn't much more than that. Alexandria might have been his parents' brainchild but they were both gone. So was his brother. His entire family was gone and Alexandria now belonged to Rick. Spencer knew he didn't have a place here anymore and he wanted to try his luck out there.

The four loaded up a car with their personal belongings and some supplies and no one protested or tried to stop them as they drove out of the front gate. None of them were too sure where they were going but Eric appointed himself as navigator and directed Aaron to take them further South. And since there was no other plan, south sounded as good as any other place at the moment.

Rosita passed by a walker that had been put down, rotting now on one of the driveways and she saw that the driveway had been all torn up. She frowned a little at that, not sure why someone would pull apart a driveway, but when she passed the house's walkway that led from the sidewalk up to the front door, she saw that that had been torn apart as well. She suspected it had been made of bricks or landscaping stones and that someone had come and scavenged them.

She looked back to Spencer and without a word, she tilted her head towards the next house and Spencer nodded, adjusting the gun in his arms. They went towards the house, creeping on silent feet, and Spencer opened the door, Rosita sweeping inside.

It didn't take them long to realize though that the house had been completely cleaned out. No food in the cabinets and not a blanket to be found. They opened every drawer, every door, every cabinet. But absolutely nothing seemed to be left that could be considered useful to them. Whoever had gone through this house already knew what they were doing. She tried not to be disappointed and she tried to ignore the tingling on the back of her neck, her senses rising to alert. It was almost as if she was expecting people to be living here already. Not in this house but one of them. The bricks stripped from the driveway and walkway, the house completely emptied of supplies. She knew there was no reason to think that. Whoever had done these things was probably gone and there was no one else around her for miles. The further south they got, Rosita couldn't remember the last _living_ person they had actually seen.

They left the house and headed on further back into the subdivision and passing by a cul-de-sac, she turned her head and that's when she saw it. At the very end of the cul-de-sac, it was a small ranch house with a fence around it. But it wasn't just a fence. It was a wooden fence and bricks and rocks had been added to its height, making it stronger. She stopped walking so suddenly, Spencer nearly walked into her. From the corner of her eye, she could see him open his mouth, about to ask her what was up but then he turned his head to see what she was looking at and then he saw it, too.

That fence was completely fortified and she saw now where the bricks had gotten to.

She turned her head to look up at Spencer and he turned his head to look down at her. Together, they came to a silent agreement and turned, heading down the sidewalk, the house getting closer and closer. Both of their guns were drawn, ready to be used, because Rosita's tingling had been right. There was someone definitely here.

As they got closer, she could see that the person had also dug a few trenches in the ground for walkers to stumble into. The front fence didn't surround the driveway. Just the front yard and the walkway leading up to the front door, that had planks of wood nailed across the front of it, as well as the large front window. There were tall sunflowers growing in the front yard and peeking through a little crack between two rocks, Rosita could see that more wildflowers were growing amidst the tall grass.

She and Spencer crept along the side of the house, following the fence, seeing that the whole thing had bricks and rocks added to it, and they passed a simple wooden structure, built up against the side of the house, no bigger than an upright shower stall. There was a door and a little moon carved over that and it took Rosita a few seconds to realize that it was an outhouse. Someone had built an outhouse. And on the side, hanging from nails, there were several bouquets of dried out wildflowers, bundled together in an effort to mask the usual scent that came from outhouses.

And then, they both heard it. Both of them stiffened at the same time and glanced to one another before creeping further along the fence, nearing the backyard. There was singing. A girl singing – softly – but she and Spencer could both hear her.

When she saw the backyard, Rosita nearly gasped. There was a sizable vegetable garden, an explosion of green, and there were rain barrels with water, and there was a fire pit with a fire burning and a pot of something on a wire rack over the flames.

And there was a girl. A young woman. Blond and slight and Rosita looked at her for a moment. She wore a loose green tank top and jeans with the cuffs rolled up to her calves, a knife in a sheath visibly hanging from her belt loop. She didn't wear socks but a pair of black sneakers on her feet. And her long blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She was the one singing as she stirred whatever was in the pot with a metal spoon and then after giving whatever was cooking a small taste test, she put the spoon down and then turned, heading back towards the garden. Spencer and Rosita ducked lower so she couldn't see them as they watched her through two tiny cracks in between rocks. The girl sank to her knees and began pulling at little weeds that had sprouted up in the dirt within the crops and she continued singing.

" _There's a bright golden haze on the meadow.  
There's a bright golden haze on the meadow.  
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye,  
And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky._

 _Oh what a beautiful morning,_  
 _Oh what a beautiful day._  
 _I've got a beautiful feeling,_  
 _Everything's going my way."_

"I know you think you're helping but you're not. At all," the girl then laughed softly and they could see a small red fox sniffing at her hands with his snout.

Rosita couldn't understand what she was seeing. There was a young woman weeding a vegetable garden with a little red fox as a pet and a fortified fence surround her. What was this place? Who was she? Was she alone?

"Take one more step. I dare 'ya," a voice as rough as gravel appeared from beside her.

Okay. No, she definitely wasn't alone.

Slowly, Rosita and Spencer brought themselves up to their normal height, turning to face the man who had appeared, a crossbow in his arms, aimed right for Rosita's head. He was holding onto it so tightly, she could see the muscles in his arms flex and strain – as if it was taking all of his strength to hold back and not shoot them right this second.

He was a lean man but a man with visible muscles with a scowl on his face and dark hair that had grown too long. Rosita noticed something about him though. Even though he was sweating – they all were in the Georgia heat – she could tell that he was clean. He wore blue jeans and a blue tee-shirt minus the sleeves but his clothes were clean, too. Whoever he and the young woman were, they had definitely done well for themselves here. It was almost surprising, too, because this just looked like a house. An ordinary house in an ordinary neighborhood. There was nothing special about it. And they had turned it into a safe place to live.

"It's just us," Spencer said as their hands slowly raised in front of them, to show him that they weren't going to shoot – especially with an arrow pointed right at Rosita's forehead but she didn't show this man that she was scared of him. She had come too far to be scared of anything anymore.

The singing had stopped. "Daryl?" The woman said and then they could hear her running. The man – Daryl – never took his eyes from them or moved his crossbow.

A moment later, the woman ran from around the back of the fence and hurried towards them, her knife drawn and in her hand. She came to a stop next to Daryl and stared at them as Rosita and Spencer stared back. She was young. Pretty. And just like him; clean. Neither of them looked as if they were starving or having a hard time making a go of it. Rosita wanted to tell them that they had an amazing place here but she bit her tongue.

The woman stared at them for another moment. "Is it just you two?" She asked them.

"Yes," Spencer was quick to answer.

"No," Rosita shook her head honestly and saw Daryl's arm muscles twitch as well as the way he clenched his jaw tightly. "There's two more of us but they're in the houses near the front of the subdivision."

"They ain't gonna find anythin'," Daryl growled.

"I'm Spencer," Spencer spoke up. "And this is Rosita. The other two are Aaron and Eric."

"I'm Beth," the pretty woman spoke up, her fingers still clenched around her knife but it hung down at her side and Rosita couldn't imagine her using it on them. "And this is Daryl."

Daryl was staring at Rosita and she felt his eyes carefully on her. "You and three guys? You wanna be with 'em?"

Rosita looked at him for a moment and just like that, she knew that Daryl and Beth weren't bad people. The guy might be scowling and pointing a crossbow at her head but they weren't bad people. She had seen her fair share of actual bad people to know the difference. She saw the way he had stiffened even more at the idea of her and three men, being possibly held with them against her will.

She gave a small smile to show that she was talking the truth. "Aaron and Eric are gay and I could kick their asses any day. Spencer's, too."

A beat passed. "I believe that," Daryl then murmured and she smiled again.

They heard a familiar growl coming up from behind the house and they saw a walker rambling towards them. Daryl didn't move though – keeping the crossbow still aimed at her though he didn't seem as tense anymore – and Beth clutched her knife and went to go take care of it, sinking the blade down into the walker's head easily. When she came back, Rosita saw the way she brushed her fingers across Daryl's back – a touch of familiarity and warmth and _partnership_ and the sight of it made Rosita ache in the pit of her stomach. Before she could stop herself, her mind flashed with an image of Abraham.

She finally lowered her eyes down from Daryl and stared at the overgrown grass, a burning building in the back of her throat despite her best efforts to swallow it down.

A moment passed and there was quiet and she lifted her eyes again to see both Beth and Daryl looking at her, the crossbow still aimed at her but she no longer thought that he was going to fire it through her forehead.

Daryl moved his eyes, looking back to Spencer. "Go back and get your two other men. She's stayin' with us so don't try anythin'."

Rosita could sense that Spencer was going to protest and she turned her head quickly to him and shook her head, quieting him with her eyes. Spencer stared at her and clamped his mouth shut but she could see that he wasn't happy and wanted to argue. She didn't care though. This was how they had to do this. She didn't fear that Daryl was going to shoot her. She didn't fear that either he or Beth would do anything to her. But she didn't blame them for being careful and taking her as collateral. There was no such thing as being too careful anymore and they still didn't know Rosita and Spencer from anyone else who would come here. They could be lying and instead of two, they could have twenty others waiting for them at the entrance of this subdivision. Rosita was going to be held here. It was the only way.

Finally, Spencer finally agreed and he turned without a word and walked back along the side of the house and towards the street.

"Give Beth your gun," Daryl ordered.

Without argument, Rosita held it out towards her and Beth took it, giving her a small smile as she did. And Rosita smiled a little as well, not afraid in the least.

"Are you hungry?" Beth asked and without waiting for an answer, she turned and began walking towards the back of the fence, disappearing around the corner.

"Go on," Daryl said, taking a step back and turning so she could walk past him and she did, following after Beth, very aware of Daryl, the crossbow no longer aimed at her but still in his hands and she had a feeling he was pretty damn quick to draw.

She followed Beth around the back of the fence and around the next corner, all the while looking around. There had been a back gate of the fence but that had been boarded shut and rocks and bricks had been added there as well. Behind the house, to Rosita's right, she saw a heavily wooded area and she wondered if that was how they found this place. Did they come through the woods from somewhere else? Or did they drive her and just stumble upon this place like she and the guys had?

Around the next corner of fence, she followed Beth to the side of the house and a door. Daryl stepped past them and he wore a set a keys, hanging from his belt. Using one, he unlocked the door and they stepped into the garage. Daryl closed and locked the door once more behind them and Rosita took a moment for her eyes to adjust and then she looked around. There was one car in there, a beat up four-door Buick. There was a workbench, scattered with an assortment of tools, a wheelbarrow in the other car space, assorted yard tools, and there was something on the floor that had been taken apart – what was once had been a snow blower, now taken apart and broken down into its various pieces. The garage was a cluttered work space but it was a clean one.

There was a door up some wooden steps that Rosita assumed led into the house but they walked through another door at the back of the garage. She followed Beth outside, finding herself now out in their backyard. She instantly felt something sniffing her boots and she looked down to see the red fox sniffing at her.

"This is Jack," Beth said and handing Daryl her gun, she bent down, picking the fox up in her arms as if he was a docile fat housecat. "Are you hungry?" She then asked again and turned, heading towards the fire pit and the pot still sitting on the rack over the flames.

Rosita looked over her shoulder and saw that Daryl was still standing behind her, his eyes already on her. He was looking at her closely, studying her, probably trying to figure her out. She wondered if he looked at her and thought she was one of the bad guys. He had survived this long though so chances were, he had seen his fair share of bad guys and hopefully, he would be able to know that she wasn't one.

"Table over there. Go sit and don't move," he ordered her in a gruff voice.

Rosita saw the table – a simple picnic table with two bench seats and there was a jug in the middle of the table with wildflowers in it. It almost made her smile as she went to it.

The vegetable garden was more impressive now that she was closer to it and she sat down, never taking her eyes off of it. It was lush and green and Daryl and Beth had clearly had a wet summer so far. They were growing all sorts of things – corn and tomatoes and she saw green peppers and other plants she couldn't identify.

She turned her head and looked at Daryl, sitting on the back concrete step that led into the house, his crossbow still in his hands, his eyes still on her.

"You two been here long?" She asked.

She wasn't necessarily surprised when he didn't answer her.

"Here we go," Beth said, coming back to the table, smiling, with two bowls. "We just started getting our first tomatoes in and Daryl was able to get a raccoon this morning."

One of the bowls was placed in front of her with a fork. Inside, there was a piece of brown, cooked meat, pieces of tomato, something green that looked like clover and a few yellow plants that Rosita was able to identify as dandelions after a moment of looking.

She looked up and turned her head to see that Beth was handing Daryl the other bowl. They didn't know she was watching but she saw the smile Daryl gave her and the way Beth leaned in and kissed him affectionately on the head. Rosita quickly looked away and down at the bowl of food in front of her.

She hated that she missed Abraham. Absolutely hated it because she hated _him_. He used her and broke her heart and she hated that she still thought about him. She doubted he spared even a second of thought towards her. He was the reason she had left Alexandria and came all the way down here. Well, one of the reasons. He had made it so damn hard to breathe in those walls.

And watching Daryl and Beth, they weren't anything like how she and Abraham had been. Daryl was intimidating but quiet and Beth knew nothing about her but was willing to share the food she and Daryl had with a complete stranger. Abraham was loud and crude and relied on his size to intimidate everyone around them. And Rosita, she didn't trust anyone. She never would feed anyone if she didn't know them. If this was her place and she found people outside, she would have shot without asking questions whether they meant her harm or not.

"It's perfectly safe, I promise," Beth said, shaking her from her thoughts. "Dandelions are a little bitter but you can safely eat the whole plant and they're surprisingly filling. And the clover's flavor offsets the bitterness."

Not wanting to seem rude to the girl way too sweet for this kind of world, Rosita picked up her fork and lifted a dandelion top. She looked at the yellow flower and reminding herself that they hadn't eaten since that morning – stale strawberry frosted Pop-Tarts – and she couldn't turn down food, Rosita took a deep breath and popped the dandelion in her mouth. She instantly made a face as she chewed but the more she chewed and the bitterness faded, Rosita tasted something else.

"Cinnamon?" She asked, lifting her eyes to Beth and Beth smiled.

"Secret ingredient," Beth said with a wink before going back to the fire pit to get her own bowl and Rosita smiled. And when she came back, she sat down on the seat across from Rosita.

"How long have you two been here?" Rosita asked Beth the question.

"It's our fifty-fourth day here," Beth answered with a faint smile.

"It's amazing what you guys have done here," Rosita said and Beth smiled, obviously proud of what she and Daryl had been able to accomplish in fifty-four days.

They all heard the car approaching at the same time and then the slamming of three car doors.

Daryl stood up, placing his bowl down on the table and he handed Beth Rosita's gun and he swung his crossbow back into his hands. Beth stood up, taking the gun, and Daryl crossed the yard to stand at the fence where Rosita and Spencer had first been standing when Daryl had come up on them.

They didn't have long to wait. With his crossbow up and aimed and Beth still standing at the table, the gun raised to her shoulder, obviously knowing how to shoot if need be, Rosita slowly stood up as they saw three heads coming along the other side of the fence. Aaron was in front and then Eric and Spencer brought up the rear.

"'s far enough," Daryl growled. "Jus' you three?" He asked.

"Yes," Aaron answered. "I'm Aaron and this is Eric and you've met Spencer. Is Rosita safe?" He then asked.

Daryl cut a quick glance back towards Rosita and jerked his head to the fence. Rosita left the table and cut across the yard, coming to stand next to Daryl. She stood on her toes and looked over the top layer of rock. Aaron and Eric smiled when they saw her and Rosita smiled in response.

"I'm safe," she stated the obvious.

Beth appeared on the other side of the fence and standing on her toes, she looked at the three men, but Daryl's hand was on her elbow and gently pulled her back to him.

"We brought you something," Eric spoke up. "To show that you can trust us."

Daryl snorted at that. "Can't trust anyone anymore," he grunted.

"Can I show you?" Eric asked.

Daryl didn't respond; just kept his crossbow aimed at now Eric's head as Eric stepped closer to the fence and then he brought his hand over the top, showing what he had. And when they all saw, Beth was the one to gasp loudly.

"They've never been opened but they're a couple of years past expiration now so I know they're stale but I bet they're still good," Eric said.

Beth was the one to step forward and take the package of double chocolate Milano cookies. She held them gently in her hands as if they had just handed her a baby; as if she couldn't quite believe that the package was real.

She looked back to Daryl and once again, the two had a silent conversation and Rosita watched, trying to guess what they were saying to one another.

After a minute, Beth turned to the fence and stood on her toes so she could look at the three men. "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to comment!**

 ***Edited to add: I keep forgetting to mention it but if you go on my tumblr - templeton21. tumblr. com and search under my "fifty four days" tag, I have been posting quite a few pictures of inspiration for this story.**


	16. Chapter 16

*** Someone mentioned that my stories are repetitive and all the same. I write Bethyl fluff/domestic stories. Most everyone knows that and they know what they're going to get when they read one of my stories. If that's not your cup of tea, there's no reason for you to be reading what I write.**

 **** Someone mentioned that I'm manipulative in my Author Notes in the beginning of my chapters. I write _fanfiction_ and am not getting paid by anyone to do so. Feedback really is the only reward I receive for posting stories that I love writing. I don't think there's anything wrong with asking people for taking two seconds to review a chapter that took me hours to write.**

 **And to those who do always take a moment to leave a review and let me know your thoughts on an update, I seriously cannot thank you enough for your continued love and support.**

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xxx

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 **Chapter Sixteen.**

Beth trusted them – already, she did – and he was going to let them in but he wasn't taking their eyes off of any of them. Beth led them through the garage and into the backyard, Daryl following behind with his crossbow, not necessarily pointed at them but definitely aimed their way. Beth shook their hands as if they have known them for years and Daryl wondered if she had been really lonely with only him as her sole companion.

"It's amazing here," Eric said and Beth beamed proudly. "Really. Where we came from, we weren't able to grow a garden like this."

"Farming's in my blood," Beth smiled. "And the soil's rich and we've been lucky with rain. When we came here, nature was already doing most of the work for us. Would you like something to eat?" She then asked them.

"I forgot about mine," Rosita said and then headed back towards the picnic table where her bowl still sat.

As Beth went to fetch the pot that was still bubbling over the fire, Daryl frowned at them. Fine. They didn't seem that bad. They had given Beth cookies, after all. And they were clean and didn't look as if they were starving or like they would kill them in an instant for any of their food. But still, they were people. Absolute strangers. And Daryl was going to let his crossbow leave his arms.

"We don't want to eat your food," the one named Aaron spoke up as Beth swung the pot onto the table but he stepped towards it nonetheless.

"What is it?" Spencer asked with a slightly wrinkled nose as he looked into the pot to see what she had been cooking all morning.

Daryl stared at the kid. He was in his twenties – probably around Beth's age – and yet, Beth seemed so much older than him. Daryl could take one look at him and know that he was just some spoiled rich kid and how he had survived this long was both a wonder and a miracle. People like him just weren't supposed to survive. Not anymore.

"Raccoon, tomatoes, clover and dandelion," Beth said. "And it's okay. We have plenty."

Daryl couldn't help but frown. He didn't know about that. They had plenty for _them_. The two of them. Not for feeding anyone who came barging into their neighborhood. He knew this was Beth. Good and kind and always so eager to help anyone who might need it. But she had to think of her and Daryl first. They couldn't be giving their food away – not when they didn't know what the next day would bring and if they would still have plenty of food leftover. Yes, the rain had been generous now but what if it didn't rain anymore and the rest of the summer was a drought?

They had to think of themselves.

And just as soon as those thoughts formed in his mind, they all heard a rumble of thunder, quickly approaching, and felt the first drops of rain hit their skin. Beth looked to him and Daryl looked to her and he knew what she was thinking and silently asking him for his opinion. And he didn't necessarily like it but he knew it was the right thing to do. No matter his non-existent trust towards them, it was the right thing to do.

He sighed heavily. "Come on," he said with a jerk of his head and headed towards the garage, knowing they were following after him. Already, the rain was falling harder.

Jack scampered between his legs into the garage and Beth came in after him, holding the pot of their lunch and heading towards the steps that led into the house. Daryl turned though on the four strangers and looked at them.

"Need your weapons," he grunted.

"Why?" He wasn't surprised that Spencer was the one to ask that.

"'cause this is mine and Beth's home and you ain't comin' into it, armed," he growled, his frown growing even fiercer – directed mostly at Spencer.

"You don't have to explain, Daryl," Aaron said with an easy smile and Daryl almost hated that Beth had told these people their names. He didn't like them knowing anything about him. He watched as Aaron handed his gun over without hesitancy, still with that smile. Eric did the same and then they both looked to Spencer.

"Spencer, don't be an ass," Rosita sighed impatiently.

Spencer looked at her and then after a moment, he handed his gun over, too.

"A'righ'," Daryl said and could hear the rain following even heavier now on the roof over their heads. He knew the storm was coming. It had been a red sky this morning.

He followed them into the house where Beth was in the kitchen, humming as she filled enough bowls for all of them, evening dividing up the food and making sure that everyone had at least two tomato slices and one piece of meat. The four all lingered in the kitchen and he knew that they were all trying to look at everything around them. Daryl moved past them to go into the family room and start a fire, the rain having dropped the temperature outside and he wanted to get the chill out of the room. The last thing he wanted was Beth getting sick again.

"Here you go," Beth smiled as she handed out the bowls with spoons. "You can sit at the table," she then invited them. "Would you like some water?" She then moved towards the water bottles on the counter without waiting for an answer.

The four sat down at the table in the kitchen and began eating, Spencer being the only one to really hesitate, Daryl noted as he crossed from the family room back into the kitchen. Wherever the kid had been holed up, it had kept him too damn soft.

"Cinnamon!" Eric beamed. "Genius," he said before digging his spoon in for more.

"We have water in our car," Aaron said as Beth set two bottles down on the table for them to share. "We'll give you some of our supplies to repay you."

Beth smiled and didn't refuse the offer. Daryl picked up his bowl from the counter and then turned and leaned against the sink, eating and never taking his eyes from them. Beth stood up on her toes and gave him a light kiss on the cheek and he looked at her long enough just to see the soft smile she was giving him. Daryl was unable to keep his own lips from twitching in return and she kissed him again, rubbing his arm a few times. And then, taking her own bowl, she went into the eating area of the kitchen to join their guests, sitting down in the chair next to Rosita.

"Where did you guys come from?" She then asked.

"We had a community up North. We had it since the start. Tall walls and supplies," Aaron was the one to answer. "Things happened though. We were attacked more than once by different groups who wanted what we had."

"One of our members stepped up and became in charge," Eric continued. "We decided to leave though – while we still could. He's a little… bloodthirsty."

Rosita snorted. "That's one way to describe him."

"We just needed to get out of there," Aaron spoke again. "What about you two?"

Daryl looked at Beth, wondering what she would say and how she would describe their situation. What would she even call their situation together? It wasn't even a situation anymore. Not in his opinion. At first, it had been, yes. He had been inconsolable at first – over Hershel and the prison and thinking everyone else was dead and for being saddled with Beth, who at the time, was the weakest member of their family. But that had all changed. It was just him and Beth now and he wanted it to keep being that way. They had a home here. An honest-to-God home with security and food and it wasn't a situation anymore. This was their life.

"We had a place, too, with others," Beth said. "But we lost it to an outside group and Daryl and I were able to get out together. We wandered around for fifty-four days before finding this place and we decided to stay."

"How long have you been here?" Eric asked the same question as Rosita had outside.

"This is our fifty-fourth day here," she said with a smile and she looked up, her eyes meeting Daryl's, and he didn't say anything in response – not that she was expecting him to. He just looked at her and she smiled because she could probably read his mind.

He wanted another fifty-four days here.

"It's amazing here," Eric said and then turned his head, looking at the kitchen and the attached dining room. "It's so clean."

"Just because the world ended doesn't mean you can't keep a clean house," Beth quipped with a smile and Eric grinned at her.

Thunder rumbled over their heads, feeling as if it was shaking the house, and Jack let out a little whine and planted himself between Daryl's legs. Daryl just kept eating and let the little fox tremble until he was done. And once he was, he set his bowl down and then stooped down, lifting the red animal into his arms, Jack still trembling despite Daryl holding him. Being affectionate towards the animal hadn't been something Daryl had planned on. He had been completely Beth's fox, her pet, not his. But the more relaxed Jack became in their company, and the more fish he caught for them, Daryl began looking to him as his fox, too.

"Here," Daryl said, coming towards the table and Beth turned in her chair, taking Jack from his arms into hers. She rubbed him behind one of his triangle ears with one hand as she continued eating with the other. "'m gonna go outside real quick. Check on the barrels," he said.

"Alright," Beth said and they were speaking as if they didn't have four strangers sitting at their table. She stood up then, setting Jack down on his feet, the fox hobbling on his three good paws after her. "Don't forget," she said as she headed towards the little pantry in the kitchen where they were keeping their clothes. They weren't using any of the bedrooms and still slept in the family room and wanted everything they owned in one centralized location.

"Beth," he said, almost as if he was a teenager about to whine, but Beth ignored him as she opened the door and took out the green rain jacket they had been able to find.

"It's raining, Daryl," she said, holding it out for him to take. "I don't need you sick."

Daryl couldn't argue with that and with a sigh, he tugged it on.

"I'll go and help you." He turned his head and saw that it was Aaron, already standing up. "It's the least I can do for you sharing your lunch and water with us."

Daryl didn't say anything to that. He turned his head back towards Beth and leaned in close, putting his lips to her ear. "I got their guns out in the garage. Don't let none of 'em out there," he whispered to her. "And never turn your backs to 'em."

Beth nodded. "Stay dry," she said softly, smiling up at him.

And Daryl leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and she smiled up at him.

With his crossbow, he headed out of the kitchen, through the laundry room and back into the garage. He could hear Aaron behind him; could hear every more the man made.

He first stopped at the side door that led outside, making sure that all three locks were locked though he knew they were. He locked them himself.

"Does it run?" Aaron asked and Daryl saw him standing in front of the Buick.

"Been workin' on it," Daryl told him though he didn't know why. "Runs, but not as good as I want it, too. Still got some work to do."

He didn't tell him that he was working on it so he and Beth could make runs further out, see more of their surrounding area, find out just how isolated they were here. Strangers didn't need to know that he and Beth were making plans to leave the house – even if it was just for a few hours at a time.

Aaron was wearing a raincoat already – navy blue – and he flipped the hood over his head as he and Daryl stepped from the garage into the backyard and into the rain. Daryl flipped his own hood up and went to the rain barrel they had on the patio, next to the back door and beneath the little overhang and the downspout. The rain was pouring into it from the gutters, almost filling it to the top. He and Beth had gathered two buckets and he took them now from their constant spot on the steps and handed them to Aaron, pointing to the corner of the patio without any further instruction. He then went to go check on the barrel they had next to the garden, that one filling up fast, too.

He tilted his head up towards the sky, the rain hitting him square on the face now. The clouds were a dark gray and more thunder rumbled and this storm wasn't going to pass by them soon. This was going to last for a while.

He brought his head down and looked to see that Aaron had set the buckets down at the corners of the concrete patio. Daryl gripped the strap of his crossbow across his chest and came back across the yard towards him.

"Heck of a storm," Aaron said with that same friendly smile of his.

Daryl didn't know what it was. Maybe he was able to read people like Beth could but he looked at this man – Aaron – and he seemed to know, deep down, that Aaron wasn't a bad guy. It seemed like he was smart and capable and he wasn't going to try and hurt them or take any of this as his own.

They went and stood beneath the overhang so they weren't getting poured on.

"You have a real nice spot here, Daryl," Aaron said. "I think most of us, what's left of us, we get so hung up on finding some big place that we can show civilization goes on. Don't think any of us stop and think that a little place like this is sometimes better."

"Had to kill a few people for it. Keep it safe. Jus' like a big place," Daryl said and flashes of all of the people he had taken the lives from with his own hands entered his mind before he was quick to shut them out again.

Aaron nodded and didn't say anything. Daryl wondered if he had to kill anyone. It sounded like they had all been pretty sheltered for a while. Maybe not Rosita – she had a hardness to her that only those who had been out there for a long time had – but the others… he hoped they knew they wouldn't have an easy road ahead of them.

"We do what we have to do to keep those we love safe," Aaron finally commented.

Daryl didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He'd kill anyone he had to if it meant keeping Beth alive. As for love, he didn't disagree with that either. He had never been in love – didn't even really know what the hell was – but if he was ever going to love anything in this world, he knew it would be Beth. No doubt about that.

They went back inside, heading through the back door into the kitchen this time. Beth was loading the dirty dishes into a bin and Eric was helping her as Spencer and Rosita had moved into the family room, placing themselves closer to the fire.

Beth handed Daryl the bin and Daryl turned, heading outside and placing it on the picnic table so the rain could wash the dishes for them. Back inside once again, Beth was taking Aaron's raincoat and then took Daryl's and she went to go hang them in the hallway. Daryl followed after her, keeping one eye out towards their "guests".

"What do you think?" He asked her in a low voice though it was pretty obvious what she thought of all of this.

"I like them," she – not surprisingly – answered. "Don't you?" She then asked and all he did was give her a look. Her lips turned upwards in a little smile. "They're not bad, Daryl. I can tell, can't you? They are good people."

Daryl just shook his head because even after everything they had both been through – what she had been through – she still thought that. He didn't understand it and he knew that he probably never would. But it was just who Beth was.

She lifted a hand then to his face and brushed back some hair that was hanging in his eyes, damp from outside. "They haven't asked about staying. It sounds like they're heading towards Texas. That's where Rosita is originally from. Can they stay until it stops raining at least?" She asked him, looking up into his face; into his eyes.

And he looked at Beth and he knew what he was going to say. How the hell could he ever go against something she wanted? She wanted them to stay so he'd let them stay. That's how it was. He wondered if Beth had _any_ idea just how much power she had over him. But even if she did know, he also knew that she would never take advantage of it. Taking advantage of anyone wasn't even in her DNA makeup.

"Tired of it jus' bein' the two of us then?" Daryl asked and he meant for it to be a joke but it didn't come out like that and he didn't know if he could keep meeting her eyes.

Beth looked at him with a faint frown and slight furrow between her brows. "That's not it at all, Daryl," she said softly yet strongly. Her hand swept down from his face to the side of his neck, her fingers light and cool and he swallowed beneath her touch. Her thumb began tracing the line of his jaw and her eyes never left his. "I just want to help people if they're good and in need of help. We have enough here. We can spare a little." He nodded and his eyes had dropped down to that heart pendant that she always wore. The delicate little chain had broken long ago and she now wore it on a piece of black rope, knotted around her neck. Beth moved in closer to him.

"Spending the rest of my life with you, and only you, sounds like just the kind of life I want," she told him then in a quiet voice and he felt his throat instantly go dry.

He had never had anyone say things like that until Beth came into his life. There had been Carol and he had had a close relationship with Carol but her flirting had been more joking – both knowing that it didn't mean anything – and she seemed to get pleasure out of making him blush with some of her jokes; endlessly amused by his reactions.

But with Beth… it was almost as if she was maybe in love with him.

She stood up on her toes then and pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss and he lifted his own hands, immediately kissing her back, holding onto her head gently.

They broke apart when they heard thunder rumbling and a crash of lightning and Jack let out a high pitch howl in response to the noise. Beth hurried to go and quiet him down because even with the storm, they didn't want the walkers able to hear him and Daryl followed after her, seeing that the four were now in the family room, sitting on the couches and the floor, warming themselves. Beth had Jack in her arms, comforting the animal, and she went to go sit on the couch, placing herself beside Rosita.

Rosita smiled and leaned over, stroking light fingers down Jack's back. "How did you get him to live here with you?"

"We heard him one morning. His paw was hurt and I made a splint for him. It never healed completely right though so he hobbles but he's good on three paws," Beth said, smiling as Jack sat contently in her arms on her lap.

Daryl came into the family room and sat down in the armchair, his crossbow resting on the floor, propped up against the chair, at his feet. It felt weird to have people here. It had been just him and Beth for the past 108 days and he just thought it would be like for a long time coming. But Beth was right. They weren't bad people – he didn't get that sense from them – and it was storming outside. It wasn't right to kick them out.

"You can stay here," Daryl said with a rough voice and he then cleared his throat as they looked at him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Beth looking at him and smiling. "'til the rain passes," he then added so they didn't get the idea that he was inviting them to stay there forever. "We got the room."

"Thank you," Eric spoke up first. "Thank you both for everything you've done for us."

Daryl shrugged as if it was no big deal but it was and they all knew it. There was no reason to trust four complete strangers who came across their home – their sanctuary – and there was no reason to offer them any help whatsoever.

It rained for the rest of the day and Beth did all of the talking with the others. She talked about the farm and a little bit about her prison and her daddy. She didn't mention the other members of their family and Daryl knew that it still hurt her too much. She believed they were all still alive but they obviously hadn't thought the same of her since they didn't seem to be looking for her – or him – none.

And they told her where they came from and it sounded good enough. A place with actual houses and government and constables walking around but the story ended like it always seemed to end. They had gotten too comfortable and thought they were perfectly safe from the outside world.

Daryl had learned that lesson more than enough times. The farm. The prison. He'd be damned if it happened here. He and Beth had a little place here and it was going to stay that way. Over his dead body would someone try and take it from them. He wasn't going to repeat the mistakes he had made in the past. He would allow himself to get a little bit comfortable but he was never going to drop his guard – not even for a second.

When a few hours had passed, Aaron and Rosita made a mad dash for their car still parked out front and returned minutes later with their arms filled with supplies. Four back packs that belonged to all four of them, four bottles of water from the case they had in their trunk, which Aaron promptly handed to Beth, and packets of macaroni and cheese – the instant kind with the powder to mix in – and Beth almost squealed in delight at the sight of them.

They ate bowls of macaroni and cheese for dinner and had one Milano cookie each for dessert and they were only a little bit stale. Daryl could hardly tell.

xxx

He let it be known that the master bedroom was off limits. Even though Beth hadn't slept in there in weeks, Daryl still thought of it as her room. There was another smaller bedroom with a double bed that Aaron and Eric took and the front study had a couch that pulled out into a bed with a mattress that wasn't too uncomfortable and Spencer and Rosita slept in there for the night.

The rain was still falling but was now more like a drizzle, finally slowing down, and when the others had gone to bed to get some sleep, Daryl went and opened the back door, standing in the frame and lighting a cigarette. He looked over the dark backyard as he smoked. Jack scampered out to relieve himself – damn house-trained fox, Daryl almost smiled to himself – and he heard quiet steps behind him and then slim arms slid around his waist from behind.

"Thank you for letting them stay," Beth said softly, pushing herself up on her toes so she was closer to his ear and he found himself leaning back a little so she didn't have to stretch herself so much.

Daryl exhaled a stream of smoke from his mouth. "'s right thing to do," he replied in his low voice and even though he didn't really want to admit it.

Beth squeezed her arms around him. "You're such a good man, Daryl Dixon."

Daryl took another drag of his cigarette and his hand found her arm, running back and forth along her soft skin. He exhaled the smoke and then turned his head, looking down at her and she was looking up at him with a faint smile.

"'cause of you."

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**I love all of you. Seriously.**

 **Just a couple of clarifications because I've gotten a few questions about it: Beth keeps saying "54 days" because she and Daryl have been at the house for 54 days. They walked for 54 days and then found the house and have been there since. They have been together a total of 108 days.**

 **I imagine it to be early to mid summer. I mentioned snow just a few chapters ago because I live in the midwest and the weather can be unpredictable and we'll get snow in the spring. Daryl mentioned that without people ruining her, the earth was setting itself right again.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Seventeen.**

"I miss pizza," Beth said on day one hundred and nine with a wistful sigh as she gently pulled at the green beans hanging on the plants, adding them to the basket at her side.

Daryl smirked from his place nearby where he was in the middle of cleaning the small doe he had tracked and killed that morning. The backyard was small and even with her at her garden and Daryl standing at the cherry tree, the animal tied to one of the sturdy branches near the top with a piece of rope from their doomsday kit, there still wasn't that much distance between them. She knew he had been avoiding killing any large animal because they weren't able to eat all of that meat on their own and they had no way to store it without it spoiling. But when Daryl came back from his usual morning hunt with the animal carcass slung across his shoulders, he had just shrugged and mumbled that there were more of them now to eat all of this meat.

Beth didn't know what their four unexpected arrivals had been through but whatever it was, it was just about noon and they were all still inside, sleeping. They were completely exhausted and Beth couldn't help but be a little worried about them. It felt as if it had been so long since she and Daryl had been weary and tired like that.

"Any particular kind?" Daryl asked as he placed one of the buckets beneath the doe and began to drain it of its blood.

"Pepperoni," Beth answered instantly.

Finished with the green beans, she took her basket and moved onto the tomatoes next. The green peppers and cucumbers needed a few more days before they would be ready for their vegetables to be picked but at the moment, she and Daryl definitely had plenty of green beans and tomatoes to keep them satisfied.

"What did you like on your pizza?" Beth asked him.

Daryl shrugged. "Whatever Merle wanted."

"But what did _you_ like?" She asked, watching him.

For as strong and brave he was now, Daryl went nearly his entire life without being a person all on his own and Beth was determined to get to know him as much as she could – the true him and not the him who had followed his older brother around blindly for years. That might have been who he was but not anymore. He was Daryl now and she wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

Daryl was quiet for a moment, thinking before answering, and he began to carefully make his cuts so he could skin the hide off the doe slowly and carefully and Beth nearly laughed at the realization that they were talking about food while he was doing this.

"Always liked mushroom and green pepper," he answered. "Extra cheese."

Beth smiled as she resumed her picking and she thought of going into the woods today for more mushrooms. Maybe they could have some mushrooms and forest greens with the deer meat tonight for dinner. A regular feast. Maybe they could even eat out here. Like she and Daryl were a regular couple, having friends over for a regular early summer evening cookout on their back patio at their nice little house with their pet fox.

She almost giggled at the thought but she stopped herself before she could because there was nothing really to giggle about because wasn't that the truth? This was hers and Daryl's home and they had company and were making something they hadn't made in so long now because of them. It made her smile because it was the truth. This wasn't some far-fetched fantasy in her mind she had created to keep herself from thinking of the actual horror movie that surrounded them on a daily basis. This was their new truth.

It wasn't perfectly safe. This wasn't some set-aside paradise that the world and walkers were completely incapable of reaching. They had made it safe enough to go about enough daily tasks to make it all feel normal but Beth knew that she and Daryl would never forget that there was never anywhere perfectly safe anymore. They had learned that lesson too many times to ever forget it.

But that didn't stop her from feeling it deep in her bones. This was their home now and they would do anything – _anything_ – to keep it safe. She'd do anything to help Daryl keep this place for as long as they could because she wanted it too badly. She wanted to stay here and just stay here and have their own little slice of the world.

Hearing movement, both Beth and Daryl turned their heads, both pausing in their work, and Beth smiled when she saw that it was Aaron.

"Good afternoon," she greeted, standing up and dusting dirt from her gloves and jeans.

Aaron smiled. "Good afternoon. I'm sorry for sleeping so late. I was hoping to help with some of your chores and pull my own weight."

"No worries," Beth shook her head, still smiling. "There's always plenty to do and you and everyone else clearly needed some sleep."

She could feel Daryl come to stand behind her. She hadn't heard him coming – of course his steps were silent – but she could feel him now, standing right behind her, his body emanating heat and making her almost squirm as she felt sweat trickle down her back beneath her tank top. No way did she want him to move away though. She never wanted him to be far from her.

"I didn't even mean to sleep that late. Haven't slept like that for a long time," Aaron shook his head. "I think just knowing we were safe and our stomachs were full… I've always loved falling asleep when it's raining outside," he then said with a small smile and Beth smiled, too, nodding her head.

"Me, too," she agreed. It was something small but it had always been one of her favorite things. "If you need to use the bathroom," she pointed to the outhouse on the side of the house. "There's a bucket inside and we drew a line. If it reaches that line, you dump it out once you're done."

"And if you gotta go number two, empty it out when you're done," Daryl added.

"You got it," Aaron gave a nod and then turned, heading towards the small outhouse Daryl had built for them.

Beth knew it hadn't been a necessity and yet, being able to go to the bathroom with a roof over her head, it helped her keep feeling like she was human. And the fact that Daryl had taken the time to not only find the materials but took the time to build such a thing, it meant the world to her and it made her heart clench just from thinking about it.

She smiled faintly as Daryl leaned in then and kissed the back of her head.

She had been momentarily worried that with the arrival of others, he would pull away from her – maybe being too shy or even too embarrassed for others to know. But that hadn't happened at all and Beth had to admit to herself that she was so relieved with that and so happy that he didn't seem to be ashamed that they had… _something_. She still wasn't entirely too sure what it was but whatever it was, it didn't really need a label. After all of this time together, they were still together and were as happy as they could be and that was all that really mattered.

Daryl turned and returned to the doe and Beth returned to plucking more tomatoes.

Aaron stepped out of the outhouse, rubbing his hands together. He smiled at Beth. "I like the bottle of hand sanitizer you have in there," he said and Beth smiled, too.

"Just little things to make us keep feeling like people," she said and he nodded in agreement. "Would you like something to eat?" She then asked.

"Oh. I meant to tell you. We brought some power bars with us. I've left you and Daryl a few on the counter for you. To thank you," Aaron said, still smiling, and his smile was warm and friendly and Beth knew that they had just met and people couldn't be trusted anymore but with Aaron, she already felt comfortable around him.

They may have just met them but none of the four were bad people. Beth was going with her gut in regards to them. She had seen enough bad people in this new world to be able to recognize them or to at least get a tingling sensation on the back of her neck to alert her of their true nature but with these four, she got nothing and it seemed as if Daryl – reluctantly – agreed with her on the matter.

"Thank you," she smiled. "Daryl's got a deer for us for dinner tonight," she said and she saw the way that Aaron's eyes visibly lit up at that. She wondered how long this group had been eating out of cans because there definitely didn't seem to be a hunter amongst them that would help break the monotony of such a diet.

"I'll go and help him," Aaron offered and Beth turned to see him approach where Daryl was hard at work on the doe beneath the cherry tree. She couldn't hear them clearly but Daryl seemed to hesitate for only a moment before he gave Aaron some direction and together, they skinned the animal, Daryl using his knife and Aaron shedding the skin slowly and carefully as if peeling a banana.

The others were awake soon after and were all willing and eager to help with the other chores that Daryl and Beth usually saw on their own. She could tell that Daryl wasn't too sure what to do with them all. He may have run the prison – after Rick stepped down and tasked him with the responsibility – but it had been him and Beth for so long now, just the two of them, he wasn't used to having others around who could help them.

Daryl wanted to dig more trenches around their home. Beth said they should dig a moat around the property and though she knew it was probably impossible, if not even a little silly, it seemed as if Daryl was going to do just that. Daryl and Beth had been adding to their tools, taking everything they came across, and they had shovels and picks and a hoe to use with the digging and they all went outside the fence after they drank water and ate power bars for lunch and began digging more trenches to add to the ones she and Daryl had already dug.

"You've said that it's been such a wet spring down here and it seems like the summer might be, too," Rosita said as they all sweated and dug. "Maybe this really could work if it rained a lot and was able to fill with water."

"It would be amazing if it's something that could work," Beth agreed. "Just another added defense to our home."

"It really is incredible what you and Daryl have done here," Rosita continued. "Most people would have looked at these houses and wouldn't have thought they were anything special. But you guys are building a fortress."

"We're trying," Beth said, stabbing her shovel into the dirt and then jumping up onto it to jam it in even deeper. "I was sick and we were walking so long, we came upon this place and we decided to stay here until I felt better. And then… it just felt right to stay here. We just needed a place to be."

Rosita nodded in understanding but didn't say anything further.

Rosita reminded Beth of Maggie. She was a tough girl. _Very_ tough and it was obvious to Beth that Rosita could more than handle herself when it came to a fight. She was pretty and fierce and Beth couldn't help but be a little jealous of her. Daryl was still teaching her self-defense and she felt more comfortable handling herself if something like a man pinning her to the ground ever happened again but she knew she wasn't on Rosita's level. There was just something about the girl – who was probably just a couple of years older than her.

Rosita never would have let herself be pinned down in the first place.

They dug four more trenches, able to connect them to one they had already dug when Daryl pulled himself out and said it was good enough for the day. Their moat was on its way and Beth smiled a little because maybe this could actually work out.

He crouched down and reached a hand out and Beth beamed as she took it and he easily helped her out of the hole.

"Can we go down to the creek? Wash up?" She asked and he nodded.

The four – Aaron, Eric, Spencer and Rosita – didn't ask. They just followed them. They left the shovels, picks and hoe in the garage and Beth let Jack out from the backyard and grabbed two of the towels sun-drying on the line they had hung up. Daryl went into the house and returning a moment later, handed her one of their bars of soap, and then the four followed her and Daryl, crossbow in his hands, as they led from the house into the trees, coming to the creek a moment later.

The four talked amongst themselves, sometimes laughing, or Rosita calling Eric an idiot for splashing her with so much water, as Daryl and Beth were a little bit away, side by side, Beth using the soap first, washing her face, hands and arms before handing the bar to Daryl. She washed the suds off and then patted herself with one of the towels.

"They were a lot of help today," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Daryl agreed – though he possibly couldn't argue – and he leaned down, splashing water on his face, washing away his own soap suds, and then rubbing his arms with the water. Beth handed him the other towel. "Got a lot done today. Leas' they're not 'fraid of hard work."

"And now we all get deer for dinner as a reward," she smiled at him and his own lips twitched in response. She looked at him for a moment. "Do you think they'll stay?" She then asked in a lowered voice. Daryl shrugged and ran the towel down his arms and she tried not to be distracted by the sight of his bare biceps. "Will you ask them to stay?" She then asked in a whisper.

She expected Daryl to answer with another shrug but instead, he just stared at her and sometimes, the way Daryl stared at her, it was almost too intense for her to handle and she felt the need to look away from him. Sometimes, the way he looked at her, she felt as if he thought she was the answer to any question he could possibly ever ask. She thought of the way he had looked at her in the kitchen of that funeral home and the _Oh_ she had been able to say but had been unable to say anything else.

That was something else they had never talked about. That moment. He had cleared his throat after a moment and suggested she got some sleep though it wasn't really a suggestion at all and more like a gentle order. And they left the next day even though they had talked about staying and just a couple of days later, she had started getting sick and then they had found this place.

She looked at him now and kept her eyes on him no matter how intense his were or how he always made her stomach churn as if she was nervous even though she had never felt nervous around Daryl; not since the farm and they had to flee in the middle of the night and they all spent the winter together.

"You wan' them to stay?" He then asked her in his low gruff of a voice.

It was her turn to shrug her shoulders. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "We were getting along perfectly fine without them. It is nice to get help on things though."

He nodded, not arguing with that but not saying anything to it.

He stood up, handing her his towel, and she stood up, too. He swung his crossbow back into his hands and he stood there for a moment, looking around at the surrounding trees. Beth looked over to see that Jack had eased himself closer to the four new additions, sniffing at them curiously, and Spencer was the one to turn and hold out his hand. The fox stretched himself out, sniffing at it, and slowly, he placed himself close enough for Spencer to scratch the fox between one of his ears.

"'m gonna find us a maple tree," Daryl then said unexpectedly and Beth looked back to him, seeing that he was still looking at the different trees around them. She didn't ask the question but Daryl's eyes landed on her and knew that she wanted to ask. "Thinkin' it's time we get to smokin' our meat. Maple wood chips would be good for the meat. Rub it down with salt from them lil' packets we have, smoke it in the grill with water and the wood chips and then hang it somewhere."

"Maybe in the bathroom on the shower rod?" Beth suggested.

Daryl paused a moment and then nodded. "That could work." He reached out then and Beth was pleasantly surprised when his thumb brushed along her jaw and he leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Her stomach flipped and flopped and she leaned into him against his lips. After another moment more, Daryl pulled away and she looked up at him with a soft smile. And even though the tips of his ears were red – she knew he was still getting comfortable with showing affection – he smiled back.

On the way back home from the creek, there were two walkers. Daryl shot one through the head with a bolt and Eric stabbed the other one in the head. And when they got back to the house, there was another rambling across the back yards, slowly heading their way. They left it alone and headed back into the garage, Rosita now to be the one to lock the locks of the door behind them.

"'m gonna get started on cuttin' the deer up for meat," Daryl said and Beth knew that he said it to her but he was really saying it to all of them.

"I'll help," Aaron spoke up though Beth knew he had probably never cut up an animal before in his life. And Daryl probably knew that, too, but he nodded his head nonetheless and headed out the back garage door, Aaron following behind.

Beth looked at Rosita, Spencer and Eric, who all remained, looking to her as if they were waiting for her to tell them what to do. And she realized that she wasn't entirely sure what to do herself. She would be out there, helping Daryl butcher and cook but Aaron had gone and it was a two-person job. She and Daryl had been on their own – just the two of them – for so long, everything they did was a two-person job.

"I'm going to go inside and clean and cook the green beans I picked today," Beth told them, deciding. "Two of you can do perimeter checks. Front yard and back yard. Make sure there are no weak spots in the fence and no walkers. Or people," she added and Rosita nodded, looking to Spencer, who also nodded. "And someone else can carry in firewood from the storage bin there," she said, pointing to the plastic bin that was along the back wall of the garage and they made sure was always filled with fresh, dry logs.

Confident that she had given everyone a task, she turned and headed up the stairs, stepping into the laundry room and walking through into the kitchen, Jack weaving in and out of her legs and she was careful not to trip over him.

It rained – again – just as Daryl brought in the heaping plate of deer meat from the outside fire pit. Thunder rumbled and lightning crashed and another storm moved in. They all sat down at the table that night – even Daryl – to eat plates of deer and green beans and Beth lit a few candles across the surface of the table and it felt warm and cozy and as Daryl sat at one head of the table, Beth sat to his right and she leaned over and squeezed his thigh. When he looked at her, she gave him a smile and he didn't smile back but that was okay because although she was no expert, she knew she could still read him better than almost everyone else. And he didn't exactly hate this – having others there who could help with their work.

If they did move on to Texas – which they hadn't talked anymore about doing but Beth just assumed that that's what they were still planning – at least they had helped them here fortify their home even more and Beth would be forever grateful to them for that and as far as she was concerned, they could stay.

xxx

Aaron volunteered to take first watch but Daryl declined with a silent shake of his head. Beth knew that he didn't like the idea of anyone he had just met, awake in their house while he was sleeping. He didn't care if they had helped with digging today and checking fences and stripping the deer of its hide. They had just met them and Daryl wasn't going to let them have such a responsibility. If Daryl and Beth were asleep, as far as Daryl knew, the other four could rob them blind and be long gone when they woke up again.

So Daryl took first watch as Daryl always did and Beth stayed up with him, sitting with one of her books in front of the fire in the family room. After doing a perimeter check and making sure everything was locked up tight, Daryl came back to her and sat down beside her and Beth instantly leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and resting the book closer to him so he could see.

"We need to find an Antiques store," she said, pointing to the illustration in the chapter she had been studying when he came.

"What for?" He asked and she may not have seen his face but she knew his brow was furrowing a little at that.

She smiled. "I think the odds are greater that they'll have the things I need. I need a corn-sheller and then a hand-cranked grinder. Look," she held the book up so he could see the illustrations. "The corn is growing really well. We should have plenty for harvest. And once we eat enough ears, I'm going to take the rest and dry it out and then make our very own cornmeal. I'm sure we can find a vegan cookbook somewhere. No eggs or milk or butter. And I can experiment. I like thinking of new things to make for us. Cornmeal will help us through the winter again."

As she talked, she flipped through the remaining pages of that particular chapter and when she heard nothing but silence, she lifted her head and looked at Daryl. He was staring at her. Really staring at her. Staring at her in a way where she felt all of the air disappear from her lungs. Staring at her as if they were back in the funeral home's kitchen. Staring at her as if maybe, this was one of the first times he had ever seen her.

She wondered if he could hear her heart beating because she could sure hear it herself; beating in her chest so hard and so fast, it was almost hurting her breast, trying to beat itself clear right through her ribcage.

"Daryl," she managed to say his name, already sounding completely breathless, and she was almost afraid to blink, not wanting to miss absolutely anything about this moment because something was happening right now.

She could _hear_ it. In the quiet house, with nothing except the fire crackling and popping in the fireplace, she could hear every single molecule in the universe shifting and rearranging themselves for this particular moment because kissing him wasn't it. This was. This was the moment that was going to change absolutely everything.

"I've never been this happy before in my entire life," she heard herself whisper.

Daryl didn't stare at her anymore. He didn't say anything. He didn't hesitate.

His head surged forward and his fingers were tangled back in her hair and his lips fused to hers. There was no hesitancy on her part. She kissed him in return with the same force, her hands lifting up, framing his face, and he kissed her over and over again. He hadn't kissed her like this before. Like she was the very air he breathed and he was suffocating without her. Like she was water and food and he needed her to stay alive.

He kissed her almost too hard and her lungs were burning for fresh oxygen and his lungs were probably burning the same but he just kept kissing her and Beth didn't want him to stop for anything in the world.

She wasn't sure who did it. If it was her or him but one moment, she was sitting up, her fingers gripping his hair as his fingers gripped hers and she felt herself being lowered backwards until she felt the shag rug beneath her, tickling her arms and neck. She was close to the fire and she felt the flames licking her skin but she knew that wasn't why the room felt a thousand degrees to her. It was because Daryl was kissing her, tasting her, touching her, and his body slowly settled down on top of hers.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I can't thank you enough for all of the reviews and support you have been showing this story.**

 **If you've read my other stories, you know I never consider writing smut to be my strength so I've tried something a little different for the scene. Also, I have absolutely no idea how long this story is going to be. For the first time, I haven't made an outline to follow with this one.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Eighteen.**

Daryl's eyes snapped open to the sound of quiet laughter and the rain still falling. He blinked a few times and it took him a minute longer for his tired brain to realize that he was lying in the bed in the master bedroom. And Beth was next to him. Not just next to him but some of her body was draped over his and her head was on his chest, her breath warm as it exhaled across his skin, and his arm was slung low around her lower back. He knew they were both naked, the blankets tangled around their bodies, and he almost wondered what the hell happened.

But then it all came back and he knew it was something he would never forget. He didn't even really know where it came from. It was something that had been building for so long between them; since all the way back in the funeral home and maybe even before that. Over the past one hundred and ten days, Beth had become the most important person in the world to him and he knew he loved her. He still wasn't entirely sure exactly what love was because he knew he loved Carol and Rick and all of the others but what he felt for Beth was completely different and yet, the same thing, too.

And then, last night, they had been sitting in front of the fire and she was talking about cornmeal and their next winter here and getting through it together and when he had started kissing her, he hadn't been able to bring himself to stop and the way she was kissing him in return, it was obvious to him that she didn't want to stop, either.

He had done this a couple of times – and that was really only to shut Merle the hell up. He had never really enjoyed it though and had tried to do it as quickly as possible. He had hated being that close to anyone, truth be told, and none of the girls that hung around in the same places he and Merle did ever made him want to give it a shot.

But Beth, there was something about this girl that made him feel like he couldn't get close enough but he wanted to keep trying. He hated the idea of there even being enough space between them for a piece of paper to slip through. He kissed her and tried to crawl into her and just live the rest of his life – no matter how short or long it was – inside of her.

He didn't know how long they stayed on the floor at the fire and he didn't know who moved first but eventually, they both stood up without talking about it and went into the master bedroom, closing the door behind them.

Their lips met again and barely lifted from one another as they began gently pulling at one another's clothes. It was still raining, steady and soft on the roof with the occasional distant rumble of thunder and the room was stuffy with still air. Beth moved away from him only to go to the window to crack it open so they could get some of the cooler night air circulating in there and he sat down to take off his boots.

She went to the bed and laid down and he didn't hesitate in joining her, putting his body on top of hers, Beth wrapping her arms around him tightly and their mouths meeting again. He remembered that he didn't feel nervous. To him, there was no reason to. Everything happening in that moment, he felt, was supposed to happen. He didn't feel nervous as he felt Beth's naked body beneath him and he didn't feel nervous when her fingers danced lightly down his back, over his scars. He knew she had already seen them during the times when they would bathe down at the creek and he knew that she knew what exactly they were. But she had never judged him or given him pity for them. She was just Beth. Good and kind and offering him a comfort he had never known before.

His own hands and lips weren't still. He was determined to feel every single inch of her body and when his hands were done, it was his mouth's turn. He remembered the way she had laughed breathlessly and whispered his name as he dragged his lips over every single spot on her body that he could reach. He wasn't the kind of guy who did this. The kind of guy who had any sort of idea what he was doing in bed. But he could hear Beth's quickened breathing and her fingers in his hair and he knew that whatever he was doing, no matter how lost he may have felt, Beth was definitely enjoying it.

He almost expected himself to wake up at any second to find himself still on watch in the family room, having only dreamt of any of this happening, but then Beth whispered his name and pulled on his arms as she spread her thighs and Daryl settled between them. If this was a dream, he was going to be so pissed off if he woke up now because he pushed himself gently inside of Beth and she let out a quiet moan and he had to close his eyes to try and get a hold of himself so this wouldn't be over already.

In the gray dawn of the new day, Daryl wasn't sure how long he had lasted; wasn't sure if he had embarrassed himself. In the gray dawn of the new day, he could still remember being inside of Beth; how warm and wet and _tight_ she had been around him and he was lying there, already wondering when he could be inside of her again.

He turned his head from the window to look at her, his lips twitching a little at the head of blonde on his chest and her arm across his stomach and one of her thighs hitched up on his. And he could hear her steady, deep breathing as she slept peacefully with him at her side. His fingers played with the ends of her hair and he looked back towards the window, still open a crack and the air was heavy with humidity as the rain continued to fall. Mosquitoes were going to be such a bitch to handle after all of this rain but Beth was right. Complaining about the rain was a stupid thing to complain about. The rain was what helped keep them alive.

He heard more soft laughter coming through the door, from the family room, and Daryl knew he had to get up and see what their house-guests were getting themselves up to. They all seemed fine enough, he was almost reluctant to admit. He didn't trust strangers – and with good reason – but these four were showing themselves to be useful to both Daryl and Beth. Helping with digging and getting food ready and walking the fence. He had gotten so used to it being just him and Beth, he had almost forgotten how a little bit easier it could be when there were others around that could help with the work load.

He didn't know what to do with them though. There was room for them here. Everyone had their own room and it worked out well that way. There was food – for now. The garden was growing and he was able to hunt and there was the creek and the fence and if they wanted… Daryl didn't know if they wanted to stay or not but if they did want to stay here, he knew he wouldn't kick them out. They were proving themselves to him and he knew Beth liked being right. There were still good people left in the world.

Beth probably sensed that he was awake and it began to pull her from her own slumber. She let out a quiet moan and rubbed her cheek against his chest like a content tabby cat and she then let out a slight groan as she stretched her legs out. She hissed in a sudden breath through clenched teeth.

"Wha' is it?" Daryl asked, his own voice rougher as it usually was in the mornings.

"Charlie horse," she said, slowly stretching her leg out again.

Daryl sat up then and with gentle hands, he guided her leg into his lap. He began to rub at the calf muscle with equally gentle fingers and Beth let out a soft sigh, melting backwards onto the bed, the blanket slipping down to her stomach, exposing her bare breasts. She had whispered to him last night that they were so small but Daryl hadn't agreed with her. They were perfect. Just like the rest of her.

"Better?" He asked as his fingers kept massaging.

"You're the best," she smiled up at him and he smiled a little, too, and even though they had had sex the night before, he still felt the tips of his ears turning red as if embarrassed. And Beth must have noticed because she smiled and sat up, slipping her arms around his neck.

Her lips met his for a slow, soft kiss and Daryl lifted his hand, cupping the back of her head, closing his eyes as he allowed himself to just be lost to her for the moment.

He waited for it to be weird in the light of a new day but he knew he'd be waiting for something that would never happen. Not between him and Beth.

Daryl came out of the bedroom a little while later, dressed. It was their normal laundry day but if the rain kept up, it would have to be pushed back until tomorrow. He closed the door behind him so Beth could get dressed, too, and he saw Aaron, Eric, Rosita and Spencer in the family room. The fire had died down and hadn't been relit but that was okay because it was too damn hot and humid outside for a fire – even with the rain – but one of them had opened some windows to help circulate the heavy air inside.

They were sitting on the floor – the checkerboard between Spencer and Aaron and they were in the middle of an intense looking game. Jack was in Eric's lap, and looked quite happy to be there, as the man scratched him behind one of his ears. Rosita was lying on one of the couches, on her side, watching the game with a smile. They all turned their heads when they heard Daryl step out of the bedroom.

"We didn't wake you, did we?" Eric asked. "We tried to be quiet."

Daryl looked upon the scene for a moment – and tried to ignore how _normal_ the whole thing looked – and he then shook his head. "Nah. You're a'right," he said.

At the sight of him, Jack leaped from Eric's lap and hobbled hurriedly over to Daryl.

"You guys eat?" Daryl asked them.

"We split a can of peaches," Rosita answered.

Daryl couldn't help but frown at that, turning his head away so they wouldn't see. A can of peaches between all four of them? He was relieved and grateful that they hadn't helped themselves to his and Beth's food but still… a can of peaches wasn't much for four people. He knew all about starving. Not just since the world ended but before then, too. Sometimes the stomach pangs got to be so much, you would hunch over in pain and feel like you couldn't do anything except hold your middle and try not to pass out. He knew they were just conserving their food and that was smart and necessary but he and Beth had food. Plenty for them and a little bit more to spare.

Without a word, he went to the cabinet where their food was kept and he pulled out one of the sleeves of Ritz crackers and the tub of whipped peanut butter. Still not speaking, he walked over and held it out for Rosita to take, silently offering it to her. And Rosita looked at him for a moment before she sat up slowly, her eyes never leaving him, and she gave him a small smile – clearly overwhelmed at what he was doing.

"Thank you, Daryl," Rosita said, taking his offering, and the others looked a little surprised and stunned, too, and Daryl turned away before any more attention could be brought to it.

He grabbed his crossbow and went to the backdoor, Jack scampering after him, and he didn't care that it was raining. It was just a drizzle now anyway and he needed the air as well as to check on the fence as he did every other morning.

When he had checked the fence and was walking along the side, heading back towards the backyard, the outhouse door opened and Beth stepped out. She turned and saw him and instantly burst into a smile, his own lips twitching in response.

"Hi," she then greeted. "Everything look good?"

He nodded. "The usual," he said and took a moment to look at her.

He still couldn't really believe that what happened last night had actually happened between them. He wasn't regretting it and from the looks of her smile, she wasn't regretting it either. Still, it was kind of unbelievable that he and Beth had had sex. Just like that. Without talking about it before or after. It was almost… natural. Like this was something that was always going to happen between them – it was just a matter of when. He thought of how he had been right after the prison and she had wanted to smack him and instead had yelled at him and he had yelled right back but she hadn't backed down. Beth was the only person never to back down from him.

Back then, Daryl would have _never_ thought that this would ever happen between them. He hadn't even imagined it. And now, he couldn't imagine going through a single day without having her there right next to him. She was his partner – in every way now.

"I was going to go into the woods this morning," Beth informed him. "The very last chapter in my book is all about natural health remedies. What flowers and herbs can be used to help with certain things. I'm going to go out and try and find some of them. _Hopefully_ , I can find some and I'll dry them out and stock them for winter in case one of us gets sick again."

Daryl nodded and he knew that she could take care of herself against walkers and she was tougher than she thought and she'd be able to handle herself against a living person now if they crossed paths after the self-defense lessons he gave her and was still giving her. But still, he didn't want her to go alone. It was the woods. He could just imagine Beth getting lost without him there.

"I'll go with you. Hunt us up somethin' to eat," he said and she smiled and nodded.

The rain had gone from a drizzle to just a mist now as Beth and Daryl went back inside. Beth smiled at the others as she went to collect her book and basket and made sure her knife sheath was strapped securely to her belt and Daryl looked to the group of four.

"Me and Beth are headin' into the woods for a lil' bit. Gonna find some stuff. The four of you should go through the other houses here. See if there's anythin' left you might wan'," he said and he knew they all knew the reason why he was saying that to them.

He didn't want to leave them alone in the house if he and Beth weren't going to be there. He didn't trust them _that_ much yet. And they didn't argue. They simply all nodded in agreement and began gathering their things, standing up.

"Can we come back later this afternoon?" Aaron asked as the others went to go collect their packs from their respected sleeping rooms.

Daryl nodded. "We'll be back by then. Hope to catch us somethin' for dinner."

Aaron smiled at that. "Thank you for everything you've done for us. We were beginning to think good people didn't exist anymore."

Beth came to stand at Daryl's side, her smile to Aaron gentle and warm. "Daryl was beginning to think the same thing, too."

After gathering all of their things that they would need for their day's plans, they walked out of the side door in the garage and Daryl was the last to leave, locking the door securely behind him with the keys hanging from his belt. They had left Jack in the backyard for the day, knowing that he would be occupied enough, chasing at the birds who landed too close to the garden. They all had jobs and Jack's job – beside fishing – was keeping their garden safe. The fox knew that.

As Rosita, Spencer, Eric and Aaron headed towards the street, Beth and Daryl turned and headed towards the woods, Beth smiling and waving and Rosita smiling and waving in return as they went their own ways.

As soon as they stepped into the trees, they stopped and Daryl surveyed the quiet area around them as Beth opened her book and flipped to the last chapter, scanning over some of the paragraphs.

"Okay. I have no idea if we'll be able to find any of this," she said. "But elderberries can help with pain, swelling, infections, coughs and the flu. We definitely want elderberries. Do they grow around here? And lavender can be used as an antiseptic. Marigolds can help with treating wounds. Poppies will help with pain relief. Rosemary looks like it can be used for just about anything… thyme helps with coughs…" she turned the page and her words trailed off as she read silently to herself.

Daryl knew Hershel had known this kind of stuff and had used some of it in the prison when it was needed but people were still hung up on so much from the way life used to be, they thought of medicine and tablets and hadn't thought of anything past that. He was grateful to have Beth because he admitted he hadn't thought of natural stuff like this much. He knew it existed. He remembered his grandma – always an old woman with leathery skin in his barely-there memories – had known about this kind of thing but the knowledge had been lost when she died when Daryl was still just a little kid.

"Le's go this way," he said with a jerk of his head to the east for no reason other than they hadn't really walked in that direction yet and Beth nodded, closing the book and keeping it hugged to her chest.

The rain had stopped and a weak sun was making its presence known through the last lingering grey clouds in the sky. There was a breeze blowing, a little cooler against their skin already coated with sweat from the level of humidity, and birds chirped over head in the tree branches and water droplets clung to everything, looking like little rainbows when a sun ray hit the moisture at a particular angle.

Daryl knew she was walking beside him but he couldn't help but look at her every few minutes, as if making sure that she was still there; that she was actually real. And after a few times of him doing this, Beth broke into a smile and she lifted her eyes from where she had been closely surveying everything they passed to look at him.

"Still here," she said with a light laugh in her tone, as if she was able to read his mind.

It wouldn't really surprise him if she could.

Daryl shrugged, trying to act casual about damn-near gawking at her. "Jus' like lookin' at you," he then said and his ears immediately exploded with a flush. He quickly jerked his eyes away, going back to looking ahead, keeping a sharp lookout for walkers, and he heard Beth step closer to him, her side against his.

"I like you looking at me," she said in a quiet voice and he looked at her again to see that she was smiling up at him with pink cheeks.

He knew he was going to kiss her. He stopped to do just that and Beth stopped, too, looking up at him; looking like a girl who definitely wouldn't mind being kissed by him.

But he stopped himself before he could. Not because he didn't want to but his ears perked up as he heard it. Low, heavy footsteps, getting closer. He quickly turned his head, his crossbow raising in his arms. He watched the direction it was coming from, his heart already hammering in his chest. He knew what it was but he hadn't heard one for so long, he had to make sure…

He saw the moving brown form through the trees and without a word, he spun and grabbed Beth's arm. He immediately put his finger to his lips and she nodded with slightly wide eyes, clearly wondering what he saw and heard.

He looked around for a moment. Climbing wouldn't matter and running would just draw attention to them. He looked and saw the tree with the space at the base, a hollow spot in the trunk just big enough for Beth to crawl into. He looked at her and pointed to the spot and she turned to see it.

"Slow," he whispered so she wouldn't go off running, possibly making noise, and the heavy steps were getting close.

Beth nodded in understanding and moved on silent steps that he had taught her and with her basket and book, she got down onto her knees and crawled into the tree trunk. She hugged her knees to her chest and squeezed in as much as she could, gesturing for him to follow after her but he shook his head. He stood in front of the hole, his crossbow aimed and ready though he knew it wouldn't do much good if he had to use it.

The brown grizzly bear slowly came closer, sniffing at the ground and bushes it passed and Daryl all but held his breath, staring at the beast, not even blinking. He was glad Jack wasn't with them and he hoped the bear just kept moving on his way. Bears had always scared the shit out of him. They were too fast to outrun, they could climb trees and they could swim, too. There really was no way to escape a grizzly bear if it decided to pursue you. All Daryl could do was stand there and hope the bear wasn't interested.

He could feel his heart drumming in the base of his throat and sweat trickle down his temple. The bear stopped at something at the ground, scratching at it with one of his clawed paws; claws that could kill Daryl with one swipe. The bear sniffed and then shorted through its nostrils before moving on. He walked slowly; almost lazily but Daryl knew that that was because in these woods, this bear was King and he didn't have to move fast for anything. The thing probably didn't even blink twice at approaching walkers. Probably just slashed at their heads and bodies with his claws before moving on, never giving them a second thought.

Walkers were just another predator and the surviving people weren't the only ones that had to adjust and adapt themselves to this new world.

The bear lumbered past, continuing on its way, not even looking in Daryl's direction. But Daryl kept holding his breath and only when the bear disappeared completely from his view and he couldn't hear his steps anymore did Daryl breathe again. He waited another passing moment and then turned, dropping down in front of the trunk's hole.

"You a'right?" He asked her.

He moved back a little so Beth could get out and he swung the crossbow onto his shoulder so he could take her hands and help pull her up to her feet.

"What was it?" She asked, her eyes still wide, looking around as if it was still around.

"Grizzly," he said, sounding nonchalant about it now that the threat had passed them but his heart was still thudding in his chest.

Daryl turned to where the bear had been scratching. There had been something there but whatever it was, the bear had smelled something he wasn't interested in. But Daryl knew that the bear had stopped for a reason. He waited for Beth to gather her basket and book and then armed with his crossbow once more, he went to the spot on the ground, looking it over for a moment, seeing that it was covered with dead leaves that had fallen from the trees that past fall. There was a hint of wood and he thought it was just part of the forest floor but after another look, the wood wasn't just a random piece. It was part of something.

"Daryl, look," Beth said and he instantly lifted his eyes, following her pointed finger.

A little bit away, there was a house. Or, it had once been a house among the trees. Now, it was a burned out frame of what had once been a house, nothing remaining now except a burnt out frame of blackened wood that was barely standing together.

Seeing that, Daryl now had a feeling he knew exactly what he was standing on.

With a gentle arm across her chest, he pushed Beth back a few steps and then he began kicking the leaves away with his boot and Beth gasped when she saw what it was.

"Storm shelter," she whispered.

"Open it up," he said, his crossbow raised, and Beth nodded, taking a deep breath before gripping the edge of the flat wood and slowly pulling it backwards.

Daryl fired his crossbow immediately, putting down the walker snarling at the foot of the stairs. No wonder the bear had moved on. Probably smelled the rot and wasn't interested anymore. Daryl figured that the person in here had lived in that house and had come down here to hide once the world started going to shit. Even though the sun was shining through the tree leaves, it was still dark at the bottom of the steps and he waited a moment; waiting to see if he heard anything else. But when he didn't, he began to slowly descend, never lowering his crossbow.

Beth didn't follow though she had pulled her knife and stood at the top of the steps.

Daryl stepped over the walker and his feet came down onto the hard-packed dirt floor. It took just a second for his eyes to adjust and he saw that it was a typical storm shelter. Buried down in the earth – cool and small – with a couple of chairs and shelves built into the wall and bedding on the floor. He wondered how long the guy had been able to survive down here.

"Beth," he called her name and she instantly came down the steps, joining him. "You seein' what I'm seein'?" He then asked and pointed to a corner, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the somewhat darkness, and he knew when they did because she then gasped and he couldn't help but smile, wanting to share in the same reaction.

"Potatoes!" She then exclaimed and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him square on the lips.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**As always, I love all of you who are reading and commenting. I continue to post pictures of inspiration for this story on my tumblr so head over there if you're curious and check out the "fifty four days" tag. templeton21. tumblr. com.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Nineteen.**

Whoever this man had been, he knew the end of the world was coming. Probably sat in his now burned out house and watched the constant news reports as each city in the world fell and people at first couldn't believe it as they said the dead was staring to walk around even after they were dead and he decided to make preparations. He canned as much as he possibly could and now, Beth stood in his storm cellar, staring at his supplies. She wasn't sure how he died until Daryl knelt at his side, inspecting his body, and found the man's wrists slit open.

Beth quickly turned away and stared at the jars, ignoring the scratchiness in her throat and the sudden burning of her own scars hidden beneath the collection of bracelets.

It felt like it happened so long ago – breaking that mirror and dragging the jagged piece against her wrist, following the dark vein beneath her pale skin as Maggie was pounding at the door. The instant the blood began to pour out, she regretted it and knew what she wanted and it wasn't to die, crumpled on her bathroom floor. She didn't know what was going to happen but she knew that she wanted to be alive to see it.

The man had stacked all of his jars on the floor rather than on the shelves and Beth knelt down to get a closer look at all of them. "Potatoes, beets and carrots," she informed Daryl, turning her head towards him as he left the man's body and came to kneel down at her side. She smiled faintly to herself as she felt that he had put himself so close to her, their arms pressed together, and she wondered if he knew he did that.

But then, _of course_ he knew he had done that. Daryl was always so aware of everything around him and nothing this man did was by accident. Last night definitely hadn't been some fluke incident that had just happened between them that would never happen again. Beth had felt it building between them – ever since she kissed him for the first time in the backyard. It hadn't been fast and sudden. It had been strong and steady and slow-moving but neither had felt a need to push it faster than it needed to go. Beth had known and Daryl apparently had known, too. What had happened had been inevitable.

She wasn't entirely sure when she fell in love with Daryl Dixon. One morning, she woke up and her feelings were there and maybe it hadn't happened all at once. Maybe it had been strong and steady and slow-moving, too. Maybe falling in love with Daryl Dixon was just another of those inevitable things that made perfect sense when it finally happened and she didn't dare question it because everything about it just felt right.

"A'right," Daryl said, coming to a decision after a moment. "We take some and we leave the rest. If somethin' happens and we have to run, we run here and hide out until we can get back. This way, we'll have food down here. We'll bring some water bottles, too."

Beth nodded in agreement and Daryl took of the backpack from his back that he had brought with them with a couple of bottles of water inside and a tin of tuna since neither had been sure how long they were going to be gone that day. He took the bottles of water and standing up, he set them down on one of the shelves. As Beth began looking over the jars, deciding how much of each vegetable she wanted to take, Daryl began looking over the various knick-knacks that were on the shelves.

She decided on six jars of potatoes – which left six more behind – three jars of beets and three jars of carrots. She almost wanted to cry from it all as she carefully loaded the jars into the backpack and then laid the remaining jars carefully in her basket.

Her mind wandered to her family. She was able to go through an entire day now without thinking about them but some days, it seemed like they crossed her mind no less than a dozen times. Where were they? Were they safe? Did they have food like this? Were they able to find water and a roof over their heads? She didn't even know who from the family was still alive. Whoever was still alive, were they able to find themselves a little place like she and Daryl had and make it into their new home? Did any of them ever think of Daryl or her?

Daryl slipped a few things into his pockets that he took from the shelves and he then turned towards her as she got to her feet. She picked up the backpack and made sure it wasn't too heavy as she handed it back to him.

"Want to head back?" She asked. "Make sure these get home safe?"

Daryl didn't answer. He just looked at her for a long moment and she knew that he was probably able to read her mind. No matter how she practiced, she was never able to let all thoughts and emotions leave her face. She knew she was too emotional to be able to do that. Not that she wanted to be able to hide anything from Daryl.

"Thinkin' 'bout them again," he said and it wasn't a question. It was a statement. And Beth nodded her head, picking up her basket, moving her eyes away from him.

"Can't help it sometimes," she responded quietly with a slight shrug.

She still did not look at him but she felt him as he stepped closer to her. She turned her head back towards him and tilted her head up, looking into his face. It was mostly hidden in the darkness of the storm cellar but somehow, she was still able to see his eyes. And she could see that he was staring at her; concerned for her.

"Beth," he then said her name in that low, rough and gentle all at the same time tone of his and she had no idea how he could mix all of those things together and make her want to shiver any time she heard him speak with it.

"I know we said we would stay here but we… we don't gotta," he said. "We could move on and keep lookin' for them. I'll go anywhere if you wanna keep lookin'."

Beth immediately shook her head. "That's the thing though, Daryl. I _don't_ want to keep looking for them. Isn't that the worst thing you've ever heard? Either they're dead and we're going to be looking for ghosts or they're alive and we find them and… and they have a new safe place and they didn't think about us at all. They didn't try to find us and have all just moved on. I couldn't stand finding that out. Not when we tried so hard to find all of them and I would learn that I didn't matter much to any of them. Not even Maggie. _Especially_ Maggie."

And she felt tears stinging her eyes and she hated even the idea of crying because she didn't want to cry anymore. There was no reason to. She had Daryl and she loved him and he cared deeply for her and they had a home and a fence and water and Jack and they had met new _good_ people and they were carrying jars of potatoes. Everything in her life was _so_ good – except the dead walking around but that was just becoming the norm now – and she didn't want to cry and have Daryl think that she didn't feel that.

Daryl reached his hand out for her. "C'mere," he said in his grunt and his arm slid around her neck, pulling her to his chest.

And she couldn't help it. She rested her head on his chest and smelled his sweat and earth scent and she exhaled a shaky breath. She slipped an arm around his waist and held onto him tight and she felt him resting his chin on top of her head.

"You mean somethin' to me, Beth," he told her then in a quiet voice.

And in that storm shelter, she exhaled another shaky breath, closed her eyes, and buried her face in his chest as she cried. And he held her the entire time.

xxx

They decided they would come back out into the woods the next day to look for the flowers and herbs and armed with their jars, they headed home. Both were quiet and Daryl's eyes were on the sharp look-out – keeping lookout for both walkers and the grizzly. Beth wondered if that was why this area was so quiet. The grizzly probably lived close by and probably kept everything away. It was a miracle she and Daryl were here and hadn't run into the bear before today.

Stepping through the trees, she smiled a little when she saw the back of their house and she felt a warmth in her chest she felt as if she hadn't seen it in so long. Home.

The wooden fence with rocks and brick held together with cement they had made themselves. The walker scarecrow. The cherry tree and the maple tree. The trenches dug in the ground, slowly being connected together to form their own moat. Home.

It was quiet and the others weren't back yet. None of them had talked about it yet and they had only been here for a few days but Beth liked all of them and she knew that Daryl was reluctantly beginning to agree with her on the matter. She knew that if any of the four asked to stay, Daryl would let them stay.

He unlocked the side garage door with the keys hanging from his belt and she walked in first. Jack was immediately there, wagging his tail, greeting them as if he was any other dog instead of a wild fox and Beth knew that the wilderness was still in his spirit and one day, maybe he would want to run away from them and return to the woods. Beth hoped that day never came. Jack was theirs. Hers and Daryl's and he made their home complete and already, she couldn't imagine not having him around anymore.

They went into the house with Jack right on their heels and after Daryl carefully set the backpack down on the counter, he swung his crossbow back into his hands.

"Gonna go walk the fence," he said and Beth nodded as she began setting the jars out, unable to help but smile a little because just like that, they had potatoes, carrots and beets now and they were doing _so_ well for themselves here. They would be stupid to leave here. She had a hard time imagining there being a better place than this one.

She felt Daryl still standing there and she lifted her eyes, looking at him. It seemed like he wanted to do something or say something and she wondered if he wanted to kiss her. The thought made her nearly smile. She would hope that by this point, Daryl knew that he could kiss her pretty much anytime he wanted. Especially after last night.

And then as if he realized that for himself – finally – Daryl leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Quick yet soft and gentle and it made Beth's cheeks blush happily.

"Holler if you need somethin'," he said and she nodded, watching as he walked back outside, Jack deciding after a moment to stay with her. The fox laid contently down on the kitchen floor, in front of their useless gas oven, and curled himself into a red ball.

It was quiet as it usually was except for the chirping of birds outside. She went to the back door, opening it to allow the breeze to blow in and all of the windows were still open. Georgia heat in the summertime was relentless and with not even a fan to break up the heavy air, it could get downright miserable awfully quick. Just standing in the kitchen, organizing and putting food away, even with her hair swept up in a ponytail and wearing a loose tank-top, she felt sweat trickling down her back and neck.

Hearing voices from outside, Beth left the kitchen to go and greet the other four returning back home after their day of scavenging. Was it alright to call it their home, too? Did they consider this place – after just a few days – to be their home already? Beth wouldn't say it out loud but she hoped they decided to stay here with her and Daryl instead of moving on towards Texas. She couldn't think Texas was better.

Leaving through the back door, she walked around the side of the house to the front yard where the sunflowers and wild flowers grew. She saw Daryl standing in the driveway, talking with Aaron as they all seemed to have full packs and full arms. Beth took a moment to look at the wildflowers. She couldn't identify most of them and would need to go get the book on wildflowers that she had found. But in the midst of all of the explosions of color, she saw one flower she _did_ recognize and she burst into a smile the instant she saw it and approached it, careful not to trample on any of the other flowers.

And when she got to it, she put her hands on her knees and bent closer to it, unable to keep the smile from growing on her face.

Lavender. They were growing lavender.

xxx

Daryl made the announcement as they sat at the kitchen table that evening for dinner. Chunks of potatoes, fresh green beans, slices of tomato, and the rest of the deer meat from yesterday. It was one of the best dinners any of them had had in such a long time and it left them with a feeling that was almost foreign to them. They were all full.

Daryl leaned back a little in his chair and looked to Beth for a moment before looking at the rest of them. "'m gonna go on a run tomorrow," he then said, quieting them all. Beth stared at him. He hadn't mentioned anything about doing something like this and she couldn't help but frown a little. They talked with one another about everything. "The Buick's runnin' fine now. Got a full tank of gas and oil's good. Beth's been doin' some readin' and she needs some things to get us ready for the winter."

He said it so easy. _Us_. Beth picked up on it immediately but she didn't have time to dwell on that because Daryl was going on a run tomorrow. She looked at him and wondered when he had made this decision. She needed things, yes, and she knew that they weren't things that would be found around here. A run would be necessary. She just didn't like the fact of that because sometimes, runs could all go so wrong.

"I'm gonna wan' three to go and three to stay," Daryl said and he was starting to fall back into the role that he had had at the prison.

Provider and protector of everyone.

It was something that came naturally to him after going an entire life thinking that he wasn't worth much more than dirt and it made Beth happy to see that he was remembering who he was now and not who he was then but still, the idea of him going out on a run made her stomach clench.

Beth didn't volunteer to go with him. She knew he would want one of them to go and one of them to stay here, looking over their home.

"I'll go," Aaron spoke up, which didn't surprise her.

There seemed to be some kind of bond forming between him and Daryl, which was a little confusing just because it seemed as if, at first glance, they would have absolutely nothing in common. But Rick and Daryl had been as close as brothers and they had started out as different as night and day.

"Me, too," Spencer volunteered.

"You're not the best out there," Rosita told him and she didn't say it in a snotty tone, Beth could tell, but rather a matter-of-factly tone; simply stating something known.

Spencer shrugged and didn't seem offended because he knew it was the truth. "And I won't get any better if I don't get experience."

"A'right," Daryl nodded in agreement to the decisions. His eyes fell back on Beth. "Make up a list of everything you need," he told her and she nodded, her mind already racing. Both on what she would need; of what she had read about in her two precious flower and gardening books, but also accepting the fact that Daryl would be leaving tomorrow. They hadn't been apart in so long now, she was almost afraid to be.

Daryl looked at her for a moment, as if reading her mind, but she knew he wouldn't say anything to her in front of everyone else and she didn't expect him to.

"What are we looking for?" Aaron asked and it made Daryl's eyes move away from her to look to rest of them at the table.

"Antiques," Daryl answered simply enough and none of them asked as to why. It made sense to them all. Without electricity, what else would they be looking for?

After eating and discussing tomorrow's plans a little bit more, they all stood up and helped clean up, loading their dishes in the bin and making sure the food was safely closed up and stored away and Daryl and Eric went out to check on the fences and to kill the three walkers that had stumbled up to the fence while they had been eating dinner.

Beth took a pad of paper taken from the front office and her pen and collected her two books before going back to the table, sitting down to begin on her list. She flipped through the pages, reading over directions on how to do things and she thought of what she would need to do all of it. Jokingly, at the bottom of the piece of paper, she wrote down _Chickens_ and _Goat_. Eggs and milk would help with so much of their food preparations but she didn't think either animal existed anymore. Not in this world with walkers and every other living person wanting to get their hands on things like that, too.

Going through one of the houses that day, Rosita had found a mess of yarn and knitting needles, and she sat on the couch now with her legs crossed and she moved her needles fluidly as she began knitting something with the blue yarn first. It had been surprising to Beth when Rosita had been so excited at her discovery. She never would have thought that a girl like Rosita would know how to knit and have the patience to sit for knitting.

"My grandma was in a home with Alzheimer's and I would visit her every day after school," Rosita told them. "Some days, she had no idea who I was but she knew how to knit. She never forgot how to knit so I learned how to knit to be close to her."

She was quiet now as she did her stitches and loops and Spencer laid beside her, stretching his legs out, resting his head on her thigh. There was one of the heavy law books taken from the office open on his chest but he wasn't reading it. It hadn't been surprising to them when he learned that he was studying to be a lawyer before this. Spencer looked like he would have been a lawyer.

Beth could hear Aaron in the second bedroom where he and Eric slept, moving things around, rearranging furniture, making it more comfortable and putting their own stamp on the space that had become theirs over the past few days.

She heard the side garage door open and she could even hear the tumble of locks. Somehow, with the world ending, her hearing had gotten better. She thought that maybe running around for the winter after the farm and they had all spent months out in the open with shelter coming and going. Or maybe it was from the past one hundred plus days she had been with no one but Daryl and he had taught her the ways of a tracker. Maybe she had learned how to quiet her steps and to open her ears.

Daryl walked in through the laundry room door into the kitchen, Eric behind him.

"Can I have one of those?" Daryl asked and Beth nodded, turning towards another page in the yellow legal pad of paper and ripping it out, handing it to him. She handed him the pen then and watched as he wrote something down before ripping the piece of paper then into six pieces. He folded them over and she had a feeling she knew what he was doing and she almost smiled.

He went to the cabinet and took down another bowl, putting the six folded pieces into it and shaking it around a couple of times. He then went back to Beth and held it out.

"Pick one," he said and Beth reached in, sifting around for a moment before pulling it out. He took it and then handed it to Aaron, who had come back into the room. "Read."

Aaron took the paper and opened it up. "Rosita," he read.

Rosita stopped her knitting and both she and Spencer looked over towards the kitchen.

Daryl held the bowl out towards Eric this time. "Pick one," he said and Eric did, handing it to Aaron again so he could read this name.

"Daryl," he said.

"A'right," Daryl nodded, taking the two pieces back from Aaron and dropping them back into the bowl. "Night watch. Four hour shifts. We start tonight and we pick two names every day to find out who's turn it is." He stopped and looked at the their faces. "Anyone got an issue with that?" He asked and Beth could see he was already slightly tense as if expecting someone to protest and tell him that they had a better idea.

"Sounds good to me," Rosita said, setting aside her knitting and standing up, Spencer closing his law book and also getting to his feet.

"You want company?" He asked her and Rosita just gave him a little smile.

"Just make sure you ain't gettin' distracted," Daryl frowned at them both and Beth knew what he was thinking and she pursed her lips together to keep herself giggling. _Damn kids_ , he was probably grumbling in his head. Maybe he was even thinking of Maggie and Glenn, too.

They all said their good nights and checked the doors and windows and Rosita had a knife and she made sure Spencer had his before they both went out in the backyard.

Beth bent down and picked up Jack, nuzzling her nose against his fur and giving him a squeeze. "Stick close to them, okay?" She whispered to the animal and then bent down, putting Jack back on the floor, and as if he could perfectly understand her, the fox went hobbling out the back door after them.

She went into the master bedroom, fanning herself with a hand because even though the windows were all open, it was so hot and she didn't expect herself to get any sleep that night. Because not only was the air completely stifling but Daryl was going out on a run tomorrow. She knew it had to be done but she couldn't seem to tell her stomach that. What would she do without him? No. She couldn't think like that. This was Daryl. Her Daryl. He was going to be the last man standing. No matter what.

With the door closed, Beth began stripping off all of her clothes, not being able to bear sleeping with anything against her skin tonight. She left her underwear on and all but collapsed onto the bed. She pushed the covers all the way to the footboard and laid down on her back, blinking up at the dark ceiling. The door opened a moment later and she didn't look towards the door to see that it was Daryl. Who else would it be?

He came to the beside table next to her and set down a candle, the delicate flame dancing wildly for a moment before it set itself right again. She moved her eyes to him and watched as he began undressing himself, too. Her stomach was still clenched but now, for an entirely different reason as she saw more of his skin revealed to her.

Like she had left her underwear on, he left his boxers on and he crawled onto the bed next to her. And it was so hot – way too hot for this – but Beth grabbed his arm and pulled on it, wanting him close, and Daryl rolled on his side, pressing his front to her side, his arm across her stomach and she still had her fingers wrapped around his arm. She kept staring up at the ceiling as she felt his eyes watching her.

"You finish the list?" He asked then, his voice rough as if he hadn't used it in hours.

She nodded. "I think so." She paused a moment and then turned her head towards him, staring into his eyes, and she felt so emotion in that moment.

She was so scared and worried and she looked at him and all she could think of was him not coming back and something happening to him and _how much_ she loved him.

She felt tears stinging her eyes but she quickly shut them. Daryl saw though and his arm tightened around her middle. She turned towards him and it was so hot for them to be so close and she could feel her skin sticking to his but she didn't care. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him close and he squeezed her close in return.

"Please come back," she whispered in his ear.

And Daryl didn't say anything but he squeezed her as tightly as he could without crushing her but if he was to crush her, Beth wouldn't care. As long as he didn't let her go. She had already lost everyone else. She couldn't lose him, too. She didn't care how tough he thought she was. If anything happened to him, she wouldn't survive that.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I never write without an outline but I did with this story and I'll never do it again. I feel as if I have ruined this story and it's time I get this story back on track. Starting right now.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twenty.**

Daryl looked down at the illustration in the book that Beth had let him take that morning and then looked at the large object in front of him. It looked like a corn-sheller but it was a hell of a lot bigger than he had expected it to be. It was a narrow wooden box with a large wheel on the side. He had pulled it away from the wall and slowly walked around it, looking over it closely, figuring it out pretty quickly. Put the corn cob in there, turn the wheel, the kernels came out from the bottom and then the cob, now bare, came out on the other side. That was a hell of a lot of manual labor just to get the kernels from the cob. Not that he had ever been shy of physical and manual labor. He just hadn't expected it to be _that_ physical. But Beth wanted to make cornmeal and she needed this to do it.

Now, all he needed was to find that grinder.

"This it?" Spencer asked, coming up to him.

"Yeah," Daryl gave a nod. "Le's get it out to the trunk," he said, swinging the crossbow onto his shoulder and handing the book to Aaron and then grabbing one end of the sheller, looking to Spencer to help him out but Spencer was already moving to do so.

"Damn, this thing is heavy," Spencer grunted as he lifted the other end.

Daryl agreed with him but didn't make it vocal as they carried it towards the doors of the dusty, musty-smelling store. Beth was so damn smart, he had no idea what he would do without her because without her, he would have _never_ thought of this place. An antiques store? What the hell for? And it seemed as if every other living person left in the world seemed to have the same exact thoughts because this place was – unsurprisingly – untouched.

There had been two walkers inside – a man and a woman who had been old before the world ended and if none of this had happened, looked as if they didn't have that many years left to them. And once they took care of them, they looked around silently, taking in the store that had been closed and boarded up for the past couple of years.

Why the fuck hadn't he – or anyone – ever thought of a place like this to go to on runs?

After loading the sheller carefully into the trunk, they went back into the store and went into three different directions and would meet back at the car occasionally, their arms full of their finds. Garden tools, jars of sewing thread, an old sewing machine that used a foot pedal to power it instead of electricity, a jar of sewing scissors, old metal watering cans. Daryl saw an entire wooden crate of flower and vegetable seeds and he grabbed it so quickly as soon as he saw it, he nearly tipped it over, as well as grabbing some planting pots. There were buckets, too, and washboards – he and Beth wouldn't have to scrub on rocks anymore when they did laundry. There were random empty jars and jars of all sorts of ornate glass doorknobs and Daryl didn't know what they would use any of it for but he figured they'd find something to do with it all. Another great find was the two heavy iron skillets and an iron pot.

"Whoa Nelly," Aaron let out an appreciative whistle once he opened an old wardrobe's doors to find it stuffed to the brim with quilts. It was one of the best things Daryl had ever seen and he could imagine Beth, naked, lying out on one of those quilts.

Daryl quickly turned his head as if the other two guys were able to read his mind and that was when he saw it. On one of the random shelves near the front window. Aaron had handed him back the book and Daryl flipped it to the right page so he could study the illustration. Yep, that was a grinder. It would set right on the counter and the kernels would go into the funnel at the top and then would be hand-cranked by the handle. This was it. The sheller and the grinder – exactly what Beth wanted. They could make corn meal now for the winter. They were going to make it through another winter.

And he couldn't help but smile as he carried that to the car.

They went through the place quickly. It was obvious to Daryl that Aaron knew how to look for stuff but Spencer was a little slower, not entirely sure how to scavenge but willing to learn, following Aaron around, Aaron giving him a quiet lesson.

Daryl found it by the front door and he wondered how he had walked past it this many times without seeing it before then. For a second, he stared at it before taking a step closer to it. No cord. That was good. He carefully picked it up and inspected it. Looked like you cranked it with the handle on the back and that wound it up. His lips twitched a little. This was perfect for her and he could just imagine her reaction when he showed her. With everything she had gone through and everything she had done to keep them fed and make that house into a home for them, she deserved something like this.

He carefully carried it out to the car and returned for the box next to it, carrying it out to the car as well. He took a break then, leaning back against the car, pulling a cigarette out from his pocket and lighting it. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the polaroid picture of Beth that he always kept back there wherever he went.

He knew she was scared last night and this morning before he left for the run. She fell asleep, hugging him, and this morning, she stuck close, reluctant to let him out of her sight. And he got it because he was a little nervous, too. He hadn't gone on a run for so long and he hadn't been away from Beth for one hundred and twelve days. For all of these days, it had been them, together, side by side. He had been a little nervous, too, going out here without her. Sasha, Michonne, Glenn and him – he had gone on so many runs with all of them that he always knew that he could trust them to have his back.

But with Beth, that girl knew what he was about to do before he did it. He could look at her and she could read his mind and she knew exactly what he needed her to do. No one – not Merle or Rick or anyone – had ever been able to have that kind of connection with him before and he knew it was more than just spending all of these days together, completely on their own. With Merle, Daryl was his shadow. Merle didn't need to know him because Daryl was his little brother and anytime Merle turned around, Daryl was there. That was really all he did need to know. And with Rick, Daryl looked to him as another brother but Rick was the one in charge and Daryl never felt the need to question anything the man said. He was so used to being number two in his own life.

With Beth, she wasn't looking to him to take care of her. She wasn't looking at him to lead her around or boss her around. When he yelled at her, she yelled right back and she showed him that they were on the same level. He was good at some things she wasn't and she was good at other things that he wasn't and it all just balanced itself out. He _never_ would have thought – back on the farm or in the prison – that out of everyone in their family, Beth would be the one to be the best partner he would ever have.

He took one last drag of the cigarette and dropped the butt to the ground, lifting his eyes to see walkers coming down the road. He quickly counted. Nine of them. Slowly shuffling down the road, coming in their direction. He slipped Beth's picture back into his pocket and went to the door, giving a sharp whistle for the other guys to hear and to get their asses moving.

They were both coming out within seconds, arms filled with last random things. Daryl climbed in behind the wheel and Aaron got into the front passenger seat with Spencer in the back. Maybe he and Beth would be able to come back here and let her look around. She would probably find something that he had overlooked.

They had found the antiques store about a half hour away from the St. George's subdivision. There were a few other random stores around this area, it looked like, but they would have to come back to go through those. He knew it was only nine walkers but Spencer admitted that he was still learning how to handle himself when it came to taking care of walkers and Daryl didn't want to have to fight off walkers and worry about the kid staying alive, too.

Daryl thought of everything they had managed to find, now in the trunk and the backseat with Spencer. It had been a good day. A really good day. And now, he just wanted to get back to Beth and not go on another run for a while. It didn't used to leave his stomach in knots. Going on runs was one of those things he used to do with no problem. But now… if something ever happened to him, he couldn't leave Beth alone.

"Daryl," Aaron spoke his name suddenly and Daryl glanced at the man next to him before back to the road, waiting for him to go on. "Eric, Spencer, Rosita and myself have been talking. We'll never be able to thank you and Beth enough for everything you've done for us. Sharing your food and your home with us. None of us can really believe how lucky we've been in finding you. But we've been talking and we think it's time we move on and keep heading towards Texas, like our original plan."

Daryl admitted that that was surprising to him. Honestly, he knew he didn't really care either way whether they stayed or they went but they had been a lot of help to him and Beth lately and he couldn't deny that. But at the same time, he was used to it being just him and Beth and he wouldn't mind it being just the two of them again.

Daryl glanced towards him. "You sure?" He grunted.

Aaron didn't hesitate. He nodded. "We just think it's time. This is yours and Beth's home. You made it what it is and you showed us what we have to do. The four of us can move on now and make our own place."

"We'll stay though for a few more days," Spencer spoke up from the backseat. "Help you until we finish digging the moat and help you get your smoker set up."

"'preciate that," he gave a nod and stared out at the road stretched before them, worn and rough from the weather but it was quiet and that was all Daryl cared about.

He wondered how Beth would take this news. She liked their new housemates, he knew, but he wondered if she would like it just being the two of them again.

A walker was shuffling down the middle of the road and Daryl swerved out of the way to avoid hitting it. But in the process, Daryl felt the car thump as it rolled over something. And less than a minute later, he heard the flapping rubber of a front tire.

"Shit," he swore, looking into his rearview mirror. It was the back left one and he didn't have a spare with him. The car hadn't come with one and he hadn't wanted to take one off another car and take up room when they would need it for what they found that day. He was now regretting his stupidity. He knew better than to go out without an extra tire and he almost stopped to inspect just how bad it was but he kept driving.

"You think we'll make it back?" Spencer asked and the worry was evident in his voice.

"We'll make it," Daryl said. No way in hell were they not making it back.

xxx

As he came up the cul-de-sac to their house, Daryl saw Eric keeping watch in the front yard and when he saw their car coming, he turned and hurried to the backyard where Daryl figured Beth and Rosita were. He pulled into the driveway and a moment later, the garage door was flung up and he saw Beth. He drove the car into the empty spot and cut the engine and Beth closed the garage door back down behind him, switching the lock.

Daryl got out of the car and immediately went to the back tire and Beth met him there. She threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly and he hugged her tightly in return with one arm as he frowned, inspecting the damage. The tire was completely flat and he had been riding on the rim – the rim now completely shot. He'd have to find a new one and a new tire, too. He just hoped he hadn't screwed the alignment up too badly and this car would still be alright to drive after doing the work.

"Is it bad?" Beth asked, also looking down to the twisted rim.

Daryl wasn't going to lie to her. He shrugged. "Don't know yet." He then turned his head and kissed her temple. "How'd it go today?" He asked.

"Good," she said with a little smile. "I washed our clothes at the creek and Jack caught us a couple of fish for dinner tonight and I read in my book that lavender wards off mosquitos so I took some from the front yard and replanted it by the rain barrel in the backyard so we won't have mosquitos around all that still water."

Daryl almost wanted to smirk and shake his head. His girl was so damn smart.

"How'd _your_ day go?" She then asked and she hadn't unwrapped her arms yet from around him – almost as if she wasn't ready yet to let him go. Not that Daryl minded.

"Found you your sheller and your grinder," he said and he smiled as she gasped.

"Really?" Her entire exploded with brightness.

"Few other things, too," he said and he slid his arm from her, his hand finding hers, and he gently pulled her to the trunk where the others already were, unloading their finds.

"It looks heavy," Beth noted as she looked at the wooden machine.

"It is," Spencer spoke up and reached in, grabbing one end, and Daryl grabbed the other and together, they pulled it out, grunting as they did.

"Where do you want this?" Daryl asked as Jack sniffed at the base of it curiously.

"Um," Beth looked it over. "The living room. There's room in there. I'll shell in there and then grind in the kitchen."

Daryl and Spencer carried the sheller up the steps, through the laundry room and kitchen and down the hall into the living room. They set it down carefully but eagerly. It really was a lot heavier than Daryl thought something that shelled corn kernels should be. Beth walked around it and gave the wheel a trial spin. She looked up at him with a smile and his own lips twitched. He was glad he could find this for her. The girl had ideas and books and she was determined to make this new life of theirs work. And Daryl was ready to do anything to help her with every single vision she had for them both.

"There's flour in the kitchen so I think with the corn meal, I'll mix flour and water and pat it altogether and make us corn meal cakes," she said. "And not only does it help with some medicinal purposes and mosquitoes but you can cook with lavender, too. Maybe I can make us corn cakes with a drop of lavender. What do you think?" She was still smiling at him and he closed the space between them, his arms slipping around her waist, and Beth smiled up at him, her hands sliding up his arms, fingers curling around his biceps and holding on.

"I think lavender corn cakes might just be the best thing I've ever eaten," he said and her face glowed and she giggled happily.

He could hear the others walking between the kitchen and garage, unloading the car, and it was just them in the living room. He bent his head down and pressed his lips to hers and Beth was eager to press her lips back against his, tilting her head up and stretching her neck up a little so he didn't have to bend down so much; not that he minded. He liked that she was smaller than him. He knew Beth didn't need him to but being bigger than her and having her so much smaller, he felt like he would be able to protect her better.

Their lips slowly broke apart and her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at him and he smiled down at her in return.

"Was on the lookout for chickens and goat," he told her. "Couldn' find either one of 'em," he said and it was with a disappointed frown and it made Beth laugh a little, shaking her head at him as if he was forever funny to her. And he didn't mind if he was because he liked making her smile and laugh.

In the kitchen, on the table and on the floor around it, the car had been unloaded and everything they had taken from the antiques store was on display. They began going through it, making piles, separating things, and Daryl looked to see that tears were brimming in Beth's eyes as she went through everything. She lifted her eyes, feeling him looking at her, and when she looked at him, she gave him a breathless smile. He knew she was feeling completely overwhelmed because he was feeling that way a little, too.

They had managed a hell of a haul today and he thought of everything he and Beth had been able to find for themselves and accomplish since coming here and it was definitely all a little overwhelming. No, not a little. A _lot_ overwhelming. He wondered if it was safe to think that maybe this place was better than the farm or prison ever had been. Rick had always been so hung up on finding someplace big – someplace that reminded him of the old world; of having a community for his kids. But maybe, they should have been looking for some place like this. Something small that they could handle it and able to fortify it and really build something here.

He remembered the prison and the way all of the walkers had crowded the fences. The more living people inside, the more walkers that wanted in. And it wasn't like Daryl was against helping people out. Beth had proved her point. There were still good people in the world. But Daryl was more concerned now with taking care of him and Beth above all others. Maybe, in the prison, they should have just kept it with the original family. Maybe, if they had done that, they could have held onto it a little longer.

Daryl figured that that's why it had been fairly quiet here for him and Beth. People out there thought like Rick. The bigger place, the better. Little homes like this couldn't be built up to nothing. They wouldn't have safety or food or anything worth taking. And Daryl hoped that people would keep thinking that. And though he hoped he never ran into it again, he hoped that grizzly stayed out in the woods but stayed close. Even if he didn't know that, that bear was helping with their protection.

He watched as she saw the record player and small crate of records and she looked at him with tears in her eyes, a few of them slowly slipping out and sliding down her cheeks but he wasn't alarmed because she was smiling, too. And he smiled back before going back to organizing.

"This is yours for when you go," Daryl heard Beth say and he looked to see her offering the old black sewing machine to Rosita.

Apparently, when they had been out, Rosita and Eric had told Beth their plan, too. And like he was, Beth seemed fine with it.

"Nope, that's yours. This all is," Rosita shook her head.

"Don't be silly. You guys need supplies, too," Beth said. "And I don't even know how to sew. It's stupid to leave this with me," she then pointed out.

Rosita just shrugged. "We'll find our own antiques store now that you guys gave us the idea of going to one. And you've done all of this, Beth. I think you can do a little thing like learn how to sew."

xxx

They ate the fish Jack had caught and rice and tomatoes for dinner – they already had so many tomatoes – and afterwards, they cleaned up and Eric and Aaron took the bin of dishes down to the creek to wash them and Beth took the quilts, hanging them on the laundry outside to air them out, Rosita walked the fence, checking for any weak spot, Daryl was in the garage, looking over the damage to the car, seeing how far that damage went, and Spencer was on outhouse duty. Cleaning and rinsing out the bucket and it wasn't the most glamorous job but they all took turns doing it.

It was another hot and muggy Georgia summer day and the night was no better. They drew names and tonight, it was Beth on first watch and then Aaron. Daryl wanted to stay up with her and keep her company but Beth refused.

"You need some sleep. You didn't get enough the night before and you did so much today. Sleep," she said as she pushed him towards their bedroom.

And normally, she wouldn't get away with that. Daryl would argue and stubbornly refuse and force himself to stay awake with her for her entire four-hour shift. But the truth was, he really was exhausted. Run days always wore him out and the entire day was spent tense, waiting for anything to happen at a moment's notice. Now that he was back home, he admitted that he could collapse.

And after tugging off his boots and stripping himself down to his boxers, that was exactly what he did. He dropped himself face down on the bed and hugged the pillow to his face and he didn't think he'd be able to get any sleep in the too-hot bedroom but he closed his eyes and within seconds, he had drifted off.

But no matter how tired he was, he was still a light sleeper and as soon as he heard the bedroom door open, Daryl felt himself being drawn out of his slumber. He opened his eyes and the bedroom was dark and it took him a second to adjust his vision. It was Beth – not that he was expecting it to be anyone else. She stood at the foot of the bed, undressing herself, stripping down to just her underwear, and then slowly, still thinking he was asleep and not wanting to disturb him, she crawled onto the bed, immediately putting herself close to him. He felt her lips brush across his shoulder blade, over the tattoo he had there, and the bedroom was so damn hot but he still felt like shivering.

"I love you," she then whispered to him softly, her lips to his ear.

Daryl waited for his body to tense up at her words but it didn't and why should it? The only person – he could remember – saying something like that to him was Merle, usually high or just taunting him with the words, making fun of his little brother's want to just be loved by someone in his shitty life. But Beth saying it to him, it made his chest ache as if he could physically feel his heart twisting inside and he didn't even know it was all he wanted to hear until she spoke the words out loud.

Beth knew he wasn't asleep because when he slowly rolled over onto his back and looked up at her, she didn't seem surprised. She gave him a soft smile inside and he lifted a hand, brushing across her cheek, sliding back to curve around the back of her neck, and as he pulled her down, Beth was more than happy to go, the smile still on her face. She settled her body down next to his, slightly on top of him and just like last night, it was too hot to be this close, their skin already sticking together with sweat, but neither made a move to give the other space.

Daryl lifted his other hand, his thumb sweeping across the apple of her cheek and then tracing the line of her jaw and his eyes never left hers.

Of everyone in the prison, he got out with Beth.

Of everyone in the world, he was building a life with Beth. A pretty damn good life. A life that would have been envied even if the world hadn't stopped.

But the world hadn't stopped. Not really. Animals were still roaming; as were what was left of the people. Things were still growing. Rain was still falling. People were still finding it in themselves to fall in love with someone else.

And Daryl knew he got to experience this whole new world because of Beth.

He said the words and he didn't feel scared. There was no reason to be scared right now. Not of this. Never of this. It was just Beth and him and that was how it was and how it would always be.

"I love you, too," he whispered back, their eyes still locked together.

And even if he had been scared, Beth's smile then would have put him completely at ease. He gently pulled her head close to his and his lips captured hers and as he kissed her, slowly, thoroughly, building up to take more, he could still feel her smiling.

xxx

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 **Thank you for reading and please take a quick second to leave me a review if you made it this far. Thank you!**


	21. Chapter 21

**As always, thank you to those commenting and supporting me with this story. I really can't thank you enough.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twenty-One.**

They were ready to set out four days later and Daryl and Beth helped them get ready. It was the least they could do after they had helped them with their digging. It seemed as if the past few days, they had done little else. They dug a trench around the entire house, ending it on either side of the driveway. During digging, Beth had been the first – but not the last – to hit a gas line and they all stopped, holding their breath, all of them forgetting for a moment that nothing was going to come out.

"I'm not sure 'bout smokin' meat, to be honest," Daryl said once Aaron asked if he could help with his next project. "The smell… even if we keep the smoker a couple houses down, the smell of that meat might bring that bear or even bring other people to us."

Beth could hear the disappointment in his voice and she felt it, too, but he made good points. _Very_ good points and she wasn't looking to attract a bear or people just to have some smoked meat. She and Daryl did just fine with their small animals, grilling them over the fire and eating them that day. But she thought of those barbecue festivals she would go to with her family and how good the air smelled and just thinking about it made her stomach growl but she wasn't going to dwell on that. They didn't need smoked meat. It would have been nice to have something like that for their winter preparations – at the possibility of having meat to get them through the cold months – but they would have plenty of canned vegetables and they would have corn meal and they still had rice and tins of tuna and they were going to be just fine.

And Daryl was a darn good hunter no matter the season.

"Might change my mind 'bout that," Daryl told her once Aaron had walked away and Daryl turned to look at her.

"I'll help you if you do," she smiled up at him and he leaned in, kissing the side of her head, and she leaned into him as if she needed the support the help to keep standing.

When Rosita had told her that she, Spencer, Aaron and Eric were going to move on and continue heading to Texas, Beth admitted that she had been surprised. She had just thought that things were going well enough for them here and that they would stay. Beth knew that Daryl would have let them stay if they had made the decision to. But Rosita had shaken her head when Beth told her that.

"You showed us how to do what we have to do," Rosita said. "This is yours and Daryl's spot. We need to go and make a spot of our own."

Beth hadn't argued or tried to convince her to stay. If they wanted to leave, that was absolutely their decision. And deep down, Beth wouldn't mind if it was just her and Daryl again. They made the perfect team and had turned this little house into something good and this was now their home. Their home and no one else's and it was such a fine little home. Rosita was right. This was theirs and they would do anything to keep it that way. She liked their four guests very much but knowing that it was just going to be her and Daryl again – and Jack, too, of course – she couldn't stop the smile from forming.

They helped pack their car back up and made sure they had everything and Daryl made sure that they took two of the quilts from the pile they had found in the antiques store.

"Beth!" Daryl then yelled into the house.

"Just a second!" She called back from the kitchen, finishing the last few things she was putting together for them to take on their trip to Texas.

She grabbed the random containers and hurried through the laundry room and garage, out the side door. Daryl had ripped down a wooden door from one of the bedrooms in one of the other houses and he had laid it down across the moat, making them their own little bridge. He set it out each morning and pulled it back into the garage each evening. She ran across the door now, hurrying around to the side of the house and into the driveway where they all were standing, waiting.

"Here," she said and held out the containers. One was a jar of the beets, one container was of berries from the forest and the third was of bark, forest greens and dandelions.

Rosita stared at them for a moment, cradling them in her arms, and she then turned, setting them into the back seat before turning back to Beth and engulfing her in a hug. The two women stood there, hugging one another, both squeezing one another tightly, and Beth closed her eyes to keep tears from building in her eyes. She knew that they hadn't known one another long at all and yet, Beth felt a connection to Rosita. To all of them. And she imagined that somehow, if none of this had happened, they would have all met one another in another world and would have all been friends – just like they were all friends now.

Rosita squeezed her arms around her neck tightly. "Don't go north. No matter what, Beth, you and Daryl try to stay here as long as you can and don't go north," she whispered into Beth's ear but before Beth could even think about asking what she meant, Rosita had kissed her cheek and then moved to hug Daryl next, and Beth looked at her, wondering what on Earth she meant by that.

xxx

After hugs and kisses and promises that if they had to, they could come back here, Daryl and Beth, with Jack in her arms, watched from the driveway as the four of them pulled away in their car, turning out of the cul-de-sac and soon, disappearing from sight altogether. Beth exhaled a deep breath, feeling a heaviness in her stomach that she wasn't sure she'd be able to explain if asked, and Daryl put a hand on the back of her neck. She turned her head, tilting it up towards him, his eyes already looking at her.

"Just us again," she said with a faint smile.

Daryl looked at her closely for a moment. "You okay with that?" He then asked.

And Beth just smiled and shook her head slightly, nearly rolling her eyes because she knew he was asking that and was completely serious about the question.

She turned and headed back along the side of the house, feeling Daryl following behind her. She walked across the door and went into the garage, Daryl stepping behind her and then closing and locking the door behind them. She bent down, setting Jack down, and she headed into their backyard. Not that the four guests had been so loud but now, with them gone and it just Beth and Daryl again, it sounded so quiet to her ears.

She went into the outhouse and then came out once more, rubbing her hands with hand sanitizer and she went in through the backdoor, finding Daryl inside, in the kitchen, sitting up on one of the counters. She had filled a plastic container she found with tree bark that she had boiled and sprinkled with cinnamon and Daryl now sat, eating one of the strips. She smiled a little when she saw him and reminded herself that they had to find more cinnamon. When Daryl had first found that little jar, she had laughed and had had no idea what they would use it for. Now, when cooking, she used it in almost everything.

Her book on wildflowers and plants was open on the counter and she brought it closer to her, leaning over, looking over the chapter she had left it open to. It was so quiet.

"Couple of walkers stumbled into the trench in the back," Daryl spoke up in between bites of bark. "'m gonna go put 'em down and I'll need your help draggin' 'em out."

"Alright," Beth nodded. "Do you think Queen Anne's Lace grows around here?" She lifted her book then and showed him the picture though she knew he probably already knew what Queen Anne's Lace was. "The book says it grows all around North America."

Daryl shrugged. "Seen it before. No reason why we can't find you some if you need it."

"When I find it, I need to take a generous amount and steep it in boiling hot water like I'm making a cup of tea with it," she reads from the book out loud to him. "And it doesn't exactly say _when_ to drink it. So, I think I'll drink before and after just to be on the safe side," she decided.

Beth lifted her eyes from the book and saw Daryl looking at her with a furrowed brow, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She pursed her lips together and smiled because she hadn't wanted to tell him and had just wanted to surprise him with it but he was looking so darn cute, looking completely baffled like he was now.

She closed the book and left it on the counter before approaching him. She came to stand between his legs and with her hands on his knees, she pushed herself up on her toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Queen Anne's Lace has been used as a natural form of birth control for centuries," she murmured to him softly. "It's not foolproof but it's something…" she trailed off then.

Daryl stared at her then. He didn't say anything but she could actually see his eyes grow darker just from her words and she felt a blush creep across her cheeks and the back of her neck and despite the heavy heat hanging in the house, she felt like shivering. How was it possible that no matter the temperature, this man could always make her shiver? Jimmy or Zach or any other boy she had had a crush on had ever given her body such a reaction just by looking at her. But she supposed she just answered her own question. Jimmy and Zach and all of the boys had been so nice and sweet but they had been just that. Boys. Daryl could never be mistaken for being just a mere boy. Dirty and sweaty and so strong and big, he was a man. _All_ man and shivering wasn't the only way Beth's body reacted just from thinking about him.

Daryl still didn't say anything and she didn't think that he would but before she could step back from him, he swallowed the piece of bark still in his mouth and his hands lifted to either side of her head, holding it gently in his grasp.

He brought his lips closer to hers. "'m gonna find you a whole field of Queen Anne's Lace," he then growled and she did shiver this time and he devoured her mouth.

They had things to do. They both knew they had things to do. There was no such thing as a lazy day anymore. But as Daryl kissed her – and continued to kiss her – hard and deep and causing soft moans to escape from her mouth into his – it was harder for Beth to remember all of the things they really should have been seeing to instead of this.

Her hands crept up his arms and then her fingers dived back into his hair, holding it back from his face, her mouth nearly smothering his in return, never wanting him to stop kissing her. And she knew they were truly alone together again because although they had shared kisses before in front of the others, it had definitely never been anything like this. This was the kind of kiss that made her want to drag him into their bedroom and stay in bed for the rest of the day and night – preferably with him inside of her the whole time.

She moaned again just at the mere thought – eager to have a repeat of their first – and only – time together – but in the back of her mind, she reminded herself that they couldn't do that. _Yet_. They needed to find Queen Anne's Lace and the sooner they did, the sooner they could do what they were both aching for.

She forced herself to use all of her strength and she managed to pull her lips from his. They stayed there for a moment, staring at one another, both of them panting heavily.

"Queen Anne's Lace," she breathed out, still trying to catch her breath.

Daryl nodded and visibly swallowed. "Queen Anne's Lace."

xxx

They no longer took turns watching at night. They had done it when there were four additional people staying with them but that was because the more living people there were in one spot, the more the walkers were able to smell their living flesh. But it was just the two of them again and they had a trench surrounding their house and a fence and locked doors and boarded up windows and they still listened and kept watch but they were a bit more relaxed while doing it.

They had found the Queen Anne's Lace, Daryl on a mission to find some no matter how far they had to walk for it. He kept on watch for walkers and grizzly bears alike and they found it growing past the burnt out house where their storm shelter was. Beth picked enough to fill her basket and left plenty still growing so it could multiply itself in the woods. It was like a beautiful white blanket that waved like water in the breeze blowing. She also planned on taking some and planting their own supplies in the front yard amongst the wild flowers, sunflowers and lavender so they didn't have to go out far into the woods like this whenever they needed more.

She was fairly certain water had never boiled as slowly before as it did this evening as Daryl was already sitting on the bed, stripping himself of his clothes and then pulling at Beth's. She laughed and tried to bat his hands away.

"I'm not ready yet," she said as she crushed the flowers into the steaming water in the heavy ceramic mug taken from the kitchen.

As she drank down the concoction, making sure to drain the mug of every drop, Daryl pressed kisses to her stomach and ribcage, pulling her towards the bed and she nearly choked before she was able to force concentration and get herself to swallow. And as soon as the mug was safely placed on the nightstand table, Daryl pulled on her and she happily tumbled onto the bed with him, still giggling even as his mouth covered hers.

Zach had been her first. In the prison, sneaking off into a dark cell that they hadn't cleaned out, being pressed down onto a dirty mattress and feeling him on top of her. He had been gentle and slow with her, knowing it was her first time, and it had been awful. When she had confided in Maggie about it a little later, Maggie had pressed a condom into the palm of her hand and told her that most girls had the worst experience with their first time having sex. It would be better the next time – as long as she and Zach were _always_ careful.

And the second time had been better. It had left her breathless and she had smiled when Zach was finished and knowing she hadn't reached her own end, he made sure to finish her off with his fingers. It had all been so nice. Warm and pleasant and nice. And nice was all it had been. Just two kids, attracted to one another, and trying to have a nice moment in a life that was far too short and unpredictable now.

But sex with Daryl, oh my god, sex with Daryl was something she had never imagined.

This was only their second time together so she knew she wouldn't have it all figured out already but she just didn't understand how Daryl could grab her hips and pound into her between her thighs and make her want to scream so loud, she had to bite down on her lip to make sure that she didn't, and yet, he pressed the most gentle kisses on her neck. Every few minutes, he would lift his head and look into her eyes and ask if she was alright; if what he was doing was alright. And what he was doing to her, Beth didn't even have words to express to him just how good it felt and she always managed to smile and nod and pull him down for another kiss.

"You're so thick," she moaned to him and even in the midst of screwing her, his entire length shoved inside of her, she could still feel the warmth of his ears as they turned red beneath her hands. And for some reason, that just turned her on even more, feeling herself get more wet as she squeezed her muscles around him.

And Daryl groaned in response, dropping his head and burying his face to her throat.

She came a few minutes later, squeezing and arching and a cry breaking in her throat half way from escaping past her lips. Her entire body was on fire and tingling from the explosion and she clung to him as if Daryl Dixon was the only thing in the world that could steady her again. And he was. That's exactly who he was. He was her whole world.

Daryl wasn't too far behind her and even after drinking the Queen Anne's Lace, it seemed as if Daryl didn't want to test it out just yet. He did the "pull and pray", pulling himself out of her, jerking himself a couple of times and then streaming across her stomach with a low groan.

He nearly fell on top of her before he caught himself and he collapsed just to the side of her, on his front, an arm thrown across her chest and his lips panting against her ear. She turned her head and looked at him with a smile, hoping he knew just how happy she was. When she was with him like this, naked and sweaty in bed, like countless other couples throughout the history of mankind, she felt like any of those women – lying with a man who she loved, in her own little world with just the two of them. She was a woman in love with a man, who loved her back, and everything was good and _normal_ and she could forget about having lost her entire family and the dead walking the world now and every other bad thing that had happened over the past couple of years because all of those things happening had led her to this exact moment with this man and no one else.

After another moment, she stood up, finding her underwear and pulling the pair back on and then went into the master bedroom's attached bathroom, finding one of the face towels in the cabinet beneath the sink and she rubbed her stomach clean before plucking his tee-shirt from off the floor and tugging that on over her head.

It was too hot but she had lit a small fire in the fireplace in the family room for boiling the water. She went to it now and kneeled in front of, carefully taking the pot of water off with a pot holder so not to burn her hand she had hung over the flames and poured the small boiling amount into the ceramic mug. Jack came up, sniffing at what she was doing carefully as she crushed more of the Queen Anne's Lace, dumping it into the water.

She sat back on her butt, stretching her legs out in front of her and toasting her toes by the fire, and scratched Jack's stomach with a smile as she drank her drink down. She could hear a low rumble of thunder then, off in the distance, and a minute after that, Daryl came out of the bedroom, dressed once again, wearing his other tee-shirt since she was wearing the one he had been wearing that day.

He slung his crossbow on over his head. "'m gonna go walk the fence real quick before the storm," he said and she nodded, giving him a smile from around the rim of her mug as she kept sipping her water.

As soon as Daryl opened the back door, Jack abandoned his stomach scratch and hobbled quickly over to him, wanting to go out, too. Daryl closed the door behind him and Beth drank the last of her flower water, standing up to go set the mug down on the kitchen counter. She could hear the wind pick up outside, howling and pushing against the house, and thunder rumbled again – closer this time.

Feeling her stomach let out a little rumble, she went to the containers on the counter and took out a piece of bark for herself and a few berries. She then went back into the bedroom, propping herself up against the headboard as she ate. She could hear the first fat raindrops start to fall, tapping against the windows and roof like fingers trying to get her attention, and she looked towards the window. They had it open to try and get a break from the overbearing summer heat and she watched the warm summer wind rustle the curtains.

When Daryl came back inside, locking the door up tight and moving the table in front of it, she was popping the last berries into her mouth. She gave him a smile as she chewed on her bark when he came into the bedroom. His hair was damp and he shook it out like a dog. She laughed as she felt some of the droplets sprayed her bare legs. He smiled a little and began undressing once more, setting the crossbow down against the side of the bed before collapsing beside her on the mattress. She handed him the rest of the bark and he took it, finishing it for her, and she leaned over, exhaling the delicate flame of the candle burning on the nightstand table.

She laid down, resting her head on Daryl's chest, and his arm wrapped strongly around her shoulders, holding her close. She felt a slight dip in the mattress and she knew it was Jack, jumping up to sleep in a tiny ball at the foot of the bed with them. And even with the storm picking up force outside, Beth closed her eyes and went to sleep and she noted again how quiet it was.

xxx

For the next couple of days, it rained and Beth always thought the rain was a blessing. It masked their scent even more from the walkers, it watered their garden and filled their barrel with fresh water, and now, it made their moat a watery, muddy mess, adding to their defenses against anyone – living or dead – who came too close.

Daryl had found another tire and rim from another car in the neighborhood that would work on the Buick and he spent his time in the garage, making the car right away, and Beth spent her time in the kitchen. They already had _so_ many tomatoes, she was beginning to can some of them already in preparation for winter. Of course, canning did nothing to help with the heat in the room and it was hard to imagine winter ever getting here when it was this hot but it would be here before they knew it and they had plenty to do to get themselves ready before the plants began dying and the cold swept in.

The record player Daryl had found at the antiques store sat on the kitchen table, cranked to full charge and the crate of records had been full of records that had to be from the turn of the century – Mozart and Bach and Beethoven. She never thought she would hear any of these pieces again and as she listened to Prelude in C Major by Bach, she was taken back to her piano recitals, walking onto stage, approaching the piano and hearing her mom and daddy and Maggie and Shawn clapping louder than everyone else. And her fingers glided over the piano keys as she played these very songs.

Beth let out a sigh as she screwed the lid of the third jar of tomatoes. She really missed playing the piano. One of the things she missed the most. She still sang and even now, standing at the counter, her fingers glided over invisible keys. She missed making music.

She heard Daryl's boots and then a moment later, he was coming into the kitchen and she wondered what time it was. With the rain still falling, blocking the sun, they really had no way of knowing.

"How's it going?" She asked as she handed him a green bean.

He shrugged, crunching down on it. "A'right. Could be better. Could be worse."

She took her own green bean from the pile on the counter and leaned back against the sink, taking her own bite. "Daryl?" She asked.

"Hmmmm?" He asked, taking a guzzle of water from the water bottle.

"You mentioned there were other little stores by the antiques store you went to," she said, watching him closely. "When you get the car fixed, we should go on another run to them. There are a few things I want to look for."

Daryl just stared at her, not refusing or agreeing. He just crunched on his green bean and didn't move his eyes from her. She knew what he was thinking though. His face was blank but she was getting so much better at reading him. Spending days on end with him and plenty of practice had helped in her lessons.

"Beth-" He began to say but she was quick to cut him off.

"Daryl, when you get the car fixed, _we_ are going on a run," she said in a firm tone and good luck to him if he wanted to argue with her over this.

She was strong. He knew she was. And she wasn't going to just sit here while he went off there to parts unknown and she wouldn't be able to protect him as he protected her.

"Now," she took a deep breath. "Are you hungry?"

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I think this story is either going to have my usual 25 chapters or perhaps 26 so, we're almost there. As always, I post a lot of inspiration pictures for this story on my tumblr under the "Fifty Four Days" tag so be sure to check it out.**

 **Also, I've been brainstorming my next Daryl x Beth story and no spoilers except the title will be _Band-Aids and Coconut Cake._**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twenty-Two.**

"What are you lookin' for?" Daryl asked after watching her for a moment as Beth scanned over the shelves. They had gone back to the antiques store and Beth had already carried a few things out to the car that Daryl hadn't taken the first time.

"A mortar and pestle," Beth said as she left where she was looking to go somewhere else in the store to continue her search and Daryl found himself following after her.

He had absolutely no idea what a mortar and pestle were. Sounded like one of those shitty skinhead bands that Merle used to listen to. Whatever it was, he wanted to help Beth look for it because if Beth wanted it, it was obviously something pretty damn important but he didn't even know what this thing _could_ look like and he didn't want to bother Beth by asking her. So instead, he just followed her, looking at the dusty stuff on the shelves that he wouldn't have thought that would be of any use to them but he knew that Beth would probably look at these things and find a purpose for all of them.

He had been hesitant to let her come on a run – which he knew he had no business being. Beth was tough. Beth could take care of herself. And him. He just worried. He loved this girl and he had no idea what he would do if anything happened to her.

"Daryl," Beth said his name suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts. "Can you look for this?" She asked and then held up her thick flower and plant book that she had read from cover to cover. Finding that book had been probably one of the best finds that they had had since coming here. Beth read it and read it again and again and it was because of her and this book that they were actually making a life for themselves here.

Daryl looked down to the picture for a moment and couldn't help but frown. "Don't know how much help it's gonna be to us if it's a hundred years old," he grunted and Beth smiled, shaking her head a little.

"The antiques store by the farm, I would sometimes go there with my mom. She loved shopping for antiques. Anyway, the one we went to would have _new_ old stuff, too. Stuff that was new but was sold to remind people of the old days," she explained. "If they have one here, it will be a couple of years old but it still might be useful."

Daryl thought that over for a second and it still blew his mind away when he thought about what people used to spend their money on. He then looked back down to the picture before at Beth's face once more.

"You think this place got somethin' like this?" He asked.

Beth shrugged. "We won't know until we look. Can you look?"

"Course I can," he said and slung his crossbow strap onto his shoulder before taking the book from her so he could keep looking at the picture and be sure he'd find the right thing. If this was something Beth wanted, he'd do anything he had to do to find it.

She was still looking for her whatever the hell mortar and pestle was and Daryl walked in the opposite direction, heading towards the other side of the store, his eyes on the lookout. He didn't know if the store would have something like this. He couldn't imagine that the two old walkers that he had put down the first time he came here would have new old stuff to sell in their store but Beth was right. They'd never know if they didn't look. And he saw how something like this could only help them even further along.

He couldn't help but think of the others. Sometimes, his mind wandered to them and he couldn't get his thoughts off of them again. It was hard to completely forget them and he didn't want to do that anyway. They had all been through so much together and they were family – even if they never saw them again, they would always be family. And he hoped that at least some of them had gotten out of the prison and had been able to find a place like he and Beth had been able to; that they had been able to be safe and find water and food and make another go at making a home for themselves.

Daryl had thought that he and Beth would find them eventually. If they were all looking for one another, there was no reason they wouldn't have run into _someone_ eventually. But there laid the truth. The reason he and Beth never saw anyone from their family was because no one from their family had been looking for either of them. And Daryl wasn't hurt by it. Not _too_ hurt by it. Rick's priority was Carl and keeping him safe – as it should have been and he hadn't expected any of the others to really look for him. But Beth, she had Maggie and Glenn. Her sister and brother-in-law and it made no sense to him and pissed him off if he thought about it too long. It was pretty damn obvious that those two hadn't done much looking for their sister. And it wasn't a mystery to him why they hadn't. No one knew Beth like he did and he knew that Maggie and Glenn probably weren't the only ones to think that Beth hadn't gotten out of that prison alive.

He knew, some days, Beth felt guilty for staying here. She would get quiet and keep her thoughts and words to herself but he was damn good at reading her and he knew. She didn't like feeling as if they had just given up looking. It didn't matter to her that she had gotten so sick, she had hardly been able to walk and then, those two men…

Daryl didn't feel guilty for staying put. They had needed a rest and a rest led to them just needing a place to stay for a while. And he knew that a while was leading to forever, if they were able to. He saw no reason to leave this place and he knew that on most days, Beth thought the same thing.

Scanning the shelves next to one of the windows, Daryl spotted something on top of one of the bookcases and he stared at it for a moment before looking down to the book. That _could_ be it but he needed a closer look.

Turning around, he set his crossbow and the book down on the counter behind him, next to the cash register, and he then turned back to the shelf, putting his foot down on the bottom shelf, testing the weight of the unit. He didn't need to fall over and trap him and announce their presence to every walker within shuffling distance. His mind flashed with a sudden image of Zach.

"I'll get it," Beth said suddenly from behind him. He turned his head to look at her and nodded after a second. That was probably the smartest thing to do. "I found my mortar and pestle," she smiled and held up something that looked like a heavy stone bowl and some sort of little stone club. He took it with a furrowed brow, looking it over, as she took off her backpack. "It's to help crush things up finely," she then explained.

"Gotcha," he said with a nod. He had seen these things before. One of Merle's dealers had one on his coffee table and would crush the pills so he'd be able to snort them. He didn't know they had some fancy name.

He set the mortar and pestle down on the counter with the rest of their stuff and then held onto the side of the shelving unit as Beth stepped onto the bottom shelf and then carefully, climbed up onto the next one. They both heard the creak of the wood as she put her weight on it and as Daryl held on, his eyes scanned the store for a ladder or something. He didn't need this thing to crash around Beth and hurt her.

She grunted a little as she stretched up and managed to grab hold of the wooden box that they had their eyes on and she then hopped down quickly, exhaling a deep breath as if she had been holding it the entire time. She looked at him with an eager smile and matching eager eyes and he felt himself smiling a little in return. Whenever Beth was happy or excited, it was a damn near infectious mood and almost always rubbed off on him, too and even though he didn't know how this would help him, it was simple.

If Beth was happy, he was happy, too.

Beth set the wood box – dark wood stained to make it even darker – down on the counter and carefully, she lifted the little golden latch that opened up the two sides like double doors, revealing the two rows of little glass bottles on either side. Daryl leaned in next to her, catching the labels on some of the bottles. Aloe Vera oil, Orange Essential oil, Red Rose buds, Peppermint Leaf, Ginger Essential oil, Ginger Root, Blackberry Root, Mandrake Root along with nearly a dozen more.

Beth lifted the glass bottle that was labeled the peppermint leaf and she pulled out the little glass top stopper. She smiled as she took a whiff and then held it up to him.

"This one is still good," she said as he leaned in and took a smell, catching the familiar scent of peppermint. "I can't believe no one's taken this yet."

Daryl shrugged, shouldering his cross bow again. "Most people aren't thinkin' of apothecary cases when the world ends. Prob'ly would see somethin' like this and think it's nothin' but some wooden box."

"Lucky for us then," she said, still looking over the bottles. "I think the leaves and roots will still be just fine. The oils look like they've dried out a little but we'll see if we ever need to use them for something."

He watched her. He couldn't help it. His eyes rested on her and he couldn't move them away as she picked up one bottle, removing the stopper and smelling the contents inside with closed eyes and a faint smile. His thoughts went towards their family again and this time, he felt a low simmering anger towards them in the pit of his stomach. He knew they wouldn't think she had lived this long and if they did find out, they would probably think that she was still alive because of him. They would never believe that Daryl was alive this long because of _her_. He knew how to hunt, yeah, and track, yeah, but Beth knew how to do pretty much everything else.

She planted them a garden that was getting them through each day and would get them through the winter. That garden was going to keep them alive for however long they stayed here. She knew how to can and scavenge and she taught herself about flowers and greens and she was the one who thought of making corn meal and looking for an apothecary case and the rest of them could only _wish_ that they had Beth with them as their partner. Daryl knew he would never forget how damn lucky he was to have her at his side through all of this.

He realized he was still staring when Beth laughed softly then and lifted her hand to his eyes, playfully covering them.

"Stop looking at me like that," she smiled, pulling her hand back, beaming up at him.

"How am I lookin' at you?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Like you want to eat me alive," she said with a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

And even though he could feel the tips of his ears burning at just _that_ mental image, he found himself smirking a little. "Well, you ain't wrong 'bout that," he heard himself say with a boldness he hadn't thought he would ever have.

He carried the apothecary box out to the car and Beth followed behind with her mortar and pestle and another box filled with empty jars that she would use for canning. After loading their things into the backseat, Daryl closed the back door and his eyes scanned their surrounding area. Trees in the middle of being bulldozed down for commercial space and more housing but the end of the world had stopped before much progress could be made. Rusted out construction equipment sat at the side of the road.

"Got a coffee shop," he said, looking to the little strip mall a little bit down the road in the direction they had to go in to get back home. "Laundry mat, hair cuttin' place and a lil' daycare."

Beth nodded. "We'll go through all of them," she decided and he didn't ask why when he figured all of them would just be a waste of time.

Beth had her reasons and they were reasons that he never would have thought of on his own. That's how it worked. Beth was a thousand times smarter in this new world than anyone would ever think. They looked at her and though she was just some delicate little doll that had to be looked after and kept safe.

They got in the Buick and Beth was the one to drive, heading away from the antiques store and pulling into the parking lot in front of the coffee shop. He got out and swung his crossbow into his hands and Beth pulled her knife out, heading towards the coffee shop first. He could see the way her jaw was set and the way her eyes gleamed with determination and he wondered what the hell she was looking for in a coffee shop of all places. She looked back to him and he came, meeting her at the large front glass-plate window that had been smashed in when the whole world was rioting.

She climbed through first, careful of the broken shards of glass sticking out, and Daryl followed after her, the glass crunching beneath their boots. Daryl looked around. it seemed like it had been the typical coffee house that charged way too much for everything and he had stayed the hell away from. He liked his coffee black – not with foam or ice and it always seemed to him that places like this never were able to make just a simple cup of coffee.

"I worked in a coffee shop when I was fifteen," Beth said as she walked further into the place, heading towards the counter. "Daddy had to sign a special form that gave me permission to work. I actually really loved it. Everyone else complained about hours and paychecks and how big of a jerk our boss was but I loved it. I liked working and making my own money and I figured if I was a _really_ good employee, my boss would let me play my guitar there on some nights."

Daryl could easily imagine all of that. Beth working at a place like this, wearing a green apron and a black visor and always smiling at the customers with that pretty smile of hers as she whipped them up their mocha whatever the hell fancy drinks they ordered. She probably had a lot of repeat customers. Daryl knew that if she worked in a coffee shop near him, he'd become a regular just to see her.

Beth pulled herself up on the counter and swung herself over, sliding down on the other side. She let out a sharp shriek then and fell from view.

"Beth!" Daryl called her name as he crossed the shop as fast he could, his heart hammering in his chest.

He had the crossbow aimed and ready and the counter was so damn long, he did what Beth had done. Instead of running all the way around it, he jumped on top of it, ready to slide over it and about to fire at the walker but Beth had already taken care of it, her knife stabbed deep in the walker's skull and the rotted hand that had been gripping her ankle fell loose, letting Beth scramble away, standing up. The walker had been lying there for who knew how long, some heavy coffee machine having fallen down onto its legs, trapping it there with nothing to do until they came along.

She was breathing heavily and Daryl came to stand beside her, still pointing the crossbow at the walker's head though there wasn't a need for it anymore. He then looked to her and he still felt his heart pounding in the base of his throat.

"I hate when they do that," Beth grumbled, bending down and pulling her knife back.

Daryl didn't say anything. He was still waiting for his breath to come back to him.

"What the hell are we doin' in here anyway?" He growled at her, not really angry at her but feeling angry nonetheless and scared and she was the closest thing to take it out on. And Beth knew all of that because she didn't answer him as she turned away.

Beneath the counter, there were random things. More glass coffee cups – most having been thrown to the floor, creating a landmine of porcelain – rolled napkins, straws, extra sugar packets and little cream containers. She picked up the box with the sugar packets and without a word, she held it out for him to take. He was still frowning it as he took it. Girl almost got herself bit for a stupid box of sugar packets.

Beth moved further down the counter, her eyes on the lookout for something in particular. And when she found it, she burst into a smile and picking it up, she turned to him, a look of complete triumph on her face. And when Daryl saw what she was holding up, he didn't smile. He was still frowning.

"Almost got yourself killed for some cinnamon? Thought you were supposed to be the smart one 'tween us."

Her smile faded and she just stared at him, not saying anything. The cinnamon was in a plastic container and she turned back, grabbing another one beside it, this one labeled as nutmeg. Still without a word to him or looking at him, she walked away from him, looking at everything as she walked to the other side of the counter and walked back outside, Daryl following after her with his box of sugar.

Outside, she went and put the cinnamon and nutmeg containers into the car before moving on to the laundry mat next door. Daryl went to go put his sugar box down and followed after her. Before she could enter, he moved in front of her, gently pushing her back a step, not missing the way she tightened her jaw at him. He ignored it though. No way was he letting her go in here – or any place from now on – first.

The front window on this store was broken, too, and the front door missing.

With his crossbow raised, he entered first, listening, looking, firing a bolt the instant he saw a walker standing near the back. It had just been standing there as if it forgot what it had been doing and it fell heavily onto the floor in a heap. As he went to go collect his bolt, from the corner of his eye, Daryl watched Beth as she opened all of the machines, looking for any random article of clothing. But someone had already had the idea a long time ago and the washers and dryers were all missing. She then stopped in front of a vending machine before raising the hilt of her knife and hitting the glass with it. It took a couple of hits before the grass cracked and broke apart and she quickly stepped back as the glass fell down like little diamonds.

"What are you doin'?" Daryl asked and he was still growling and still frowning and Beth was still choosing not to answer him. He glanced towards the front, wondering if the noise was attracting nearby walkers.

She reached into the machine and pulled out little boxes of Tide powder, bringing her backpack around so she could stash them in there. She left the boxes of dryer sheets since they really had no way of using those.

She left the laundry mat without so much of a glance towards him and Daryl sighed heavily, following after her. He was shit at apologizing but he knew that he would have to say one to Beth. Beth was the only person left in this world who could get him to stumble over one. She was the only person left who _deserved_ an apology.

The hair salon was next and not surprisingly, this one hadn't been broken into. It was probably like the antiques store. What the hell would people need in a hair salon?

Again, Daryl gently pushed Beth away from the door and he ignored her annoyed huff.

It was clear of walkers from inside, he decided after doing a quick sweep, and he looked back to Beth, wondering what the hell she could find in here that would be useful to them. He didn't ask though because she wouldn't answer him. He was angry and she was angry now, too, and he could feel it – heavy and hanging in the air between them.

She began opening drawers and he saw her take out a brush, cutting sheers and a packet of hair ties, putting them into her backpack before going to the washing bowls in the back and taking down shampoo and conditioner bottles and musty smelling towels. Her arms were full and Daryl's eyes scanned around, finding a cardboard box near the front door. He went and turned it over, dumping the contents out – boxes of hair dye – and then came back to her. Without a word, Beth dropped her supplies into the box and then took it from him.

"Gonna keep ignorin' me?" He asked, trying to get her to look at him.

"Still going to be a jerk?" She asked and he was surprised there wasn't anger in her voice. She was certainly stiff like she was pissed at him.

"I'm not gonna apologize for thinkin' it's stupid to go into a place and not scan it for walkers," he frowned at her.

"I did scan," she defended herself, finally lifting her eyes to him and he saw the fire blazing in them.

People would take one look at Beth, this pretty girl who weighed less than most bucks in the woods, and they would think there was no reason to be worried about her. They would _stupidly_ think there was no reason to be worried about her.

But Daryl knew first hand. When Beth got pissed, she was a force to be reckoned with.

"And nothing happened anyway. I was able to take care of it," Beth frowned heavily.

"This time," Daryl muttered under his breath but Beth heard him perfectly.

"I have made it just as far as you have, Daryl Dixon," she snapped at him. "I've killed walkers. Just like you. I know what I'm doing. And you've been training me, too, remember? I can take care of myself."

"Fine," he snapped back and he really didn't know why he was so angry.

She was right. They did scan and the walker had been lying behind the counter and Beth had taken care of it. She was capable. He knew that. She was a hell of a lot stronger than most would suspect and he knew that. He personally saw how strong she was every day.

But he was pissed because something _could_ have happened. Something could always happen and they had made it too far and had done too much to make this place work just for one of them – for Beth – to be taken out by some stupid walker in some stupid coffee shop they went into just so she could get more cinnamon. What the hell would he ever do without her?

"You so sure you can take care of yourself, you so sure you don't need me, I'll 'member that next time you got some guy on top of you, pinnin' you to the ground," he spat out before he could stop himself.

He regretted the words immediately but that's what he did. He got angry and spoke without thinking and always said the wrong damn thing.

And Beth stared at him, her entire body stiff and her eyes were burning but now, mixed in with the anger, he saw something else. Hurt, yes, but something other than anger and hurt and he had no idea what it was and that was terrifying to him because he had gotten so damn good at reading her.

But not right now. Right now, he had no idea what look this was in her eyes as she set that look on him.

And then, not saying another word to him, she pushed the cardboard box into his arms and walked past him, storming out of the hair salon, leaving him behind.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to leave a comment!**


	23. Chapter 23

**So, I have finally made an outline and there are two more chapters to go and they will both have time jumps. In the next chapter, it will be winter again.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twenty-Three.**

She didn't want to be angry with him. Life was too short and uncertain to stay angry at someone – especially someone she loved – but she was furious. She couldn't help it. She was furious and hurt and… disappointed. She thought they had gotten over this. Yes, he got scared. She did, too, but she had already told him. He didn't get to treat her like crap just because he was afraid. He didn't get to talk to her and make her feel like she was less a person than he was just because he was afraid.

The ride back was silent and tense. Beth drove and Daryl was in the passenger seat, chewing on his thumb, staring out the window as if he was a pouting child, about to be punished by his mom. Beth drove carefully, trying to ignore him at the moment, her heart still pounding and her fingers holding onto the wheel so tightly, her knuckles were turning white. She knew now would be the perfect time to talk – when they were both in a small space and neither were able to walk away and hide for a few hours.

Beth exhaled a deep breath and wanting to slow her heart down, she started humming. It took her a moment but she realized that she was humming one of the pieces from the Sleeping Beauty Ballet by Tchaikovsky and then her fingers began loosening from the wheel and she began moving them against the leather as if running them across piano keys. She would be nervous about having an actual piano – not wanting to make too much noise like that – but maybe she could find an old keyboard or something – just something to run her fingers over it and pretend she was making music.

She pulled into the St. George subdivision and drove down the street, turning down the road that led to their back cul-de-sac. She pulled into the driveway and Daryl practically leapt out as if the car was on fire. Beth rolled her eyes. She knew that Daryl wasn't much of a talker – wasn't that good at it – but he was acting as if she was the one who had done something wrong when she hadn't. They _had_ scanned the coffee shop. There had been no walkers. That walker, trapped behind the counter, grabbing at her, could have happened to anyone. It could have happened to _Daryl_.

He had gone around the side of the house, unlocking the side garage door, and then a moment later, he unlocked the big garage door and she pulled into the Buick's space, cutting the engine as Daryl closed and locked the door once more. Beth got out and instantly went to the back garage door, unlocking it and laughing as Jack practically attacked her. They had left the fox in the backyard so he could look over the garden and she forgot sometimes that Jack was a fox and not a dog because he jumped all over and panted and wanted to lick her face now that they were back.

"What a greeting," she beamed as she bent down, hoisting the fox up into her arms, laughing a little as he licked her chin.

She heard Daryl behind her, opening the back car door, beginning to unload their finds, and she set Jack back down on the ground so she could help him. Daryl's lips didn't even twitch as the fox tried to greet him next and he ignored both Jack and Beth as he carried the apothecary case into the house. Beth grabbed her box of glass mason jars and another smaller box that she had found of homemade soaps with scents of lavender and rose and lemon and followed Daryl into the house.

Despite Daryl being a complete jackass right now, it had been a good day. A _great_ day. They found more cinnamon and nutmeg, too, and she found her mortar and pestle and an apothecary case. She could hardly believe that one and she could hardly believe that no one else had gotten to it before her. But what Daryl had told her about the antiques store seemed to be true. People had left it alone. People had probably thought that an antiques store would be useless, still so hung up on the way the world used to be, not thinking about how the world was now.

There was no electricity and there never would be; no grocery stores to go and buy more bread or eggs when supplies ran out. There were only candles and washboards and canned food and fresh food that had to be grown. There was no Tylenol or Advil or creams or hospitals. There was only lavender and rose buds and Aloe leaves and books to try and show the way for what had to be done. The bullets would run out eventually, too, and then, guns would be useless, too but knives and bolts and bare hands, they would always be around.

It was amazing to Beth that people weren't looking for _anything_ that could help. It had been two years. Surely, that was plenty of time for people to figure everything out.

Daryl set the wooden box carefully down on the counter, both hearing the slight tinkle of the glass bottles inside that were rocked against one another, and Beth expected him to leave as quickly as he could. If he wanted to ignore her like a child, like _she_ had been the one to do something wrong, then he could just go right ahead and keep ignoring her. If he wanted to go on thinking that she wasn't strong and couldn't handle walkers or anything that threatened her, he could keep thinking that. She wasn't going to apologize. She hadn't done anything wrong. And she knew, deep down, he knew that.

He exhaled a deep sigh and she turned her head towards him to see his hands braced on the counter and his head hanging forward. His entire body was tense and tight but she didn't approach him. He had to set this right between them all on his own this time.

When a few minutes passed, completely silent, Beth gave up and left the kitchen, heading back into the garage to carry something else from the car. But at the last moment, she turned and went into the backyard instead. The sky was getting darker – more rain coming – and she wondered if Georgia had ever had a summer as wet as this one. She couldn't remember it being quite like this. Always humid, yes, but not a rainstorm every few days. But Beth would never complain about rain.

She didn't have her basket, still inside in the kitchen, where she would not go back to get it, but she went towards the vegetable garden anyway. She had just picked fresh greens from the woods yesterday and with a fresh cucumber and a couple of tomatoes, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper, she and Daryl could have a salad tonight for dinner. She pursed her lips together and giggled. Daryl Dixon eating a salad was a mental image she found to be quite humorous.

Thunder rumbled and the wind picked up a little bit as she plucked a tomato off the vine. Jack was dancing around her ankles, weaving in and out of her legs. Like she would with any apple, she took the plump tomato and wiped it on her shirt. She then took a bite and nearly moaned at how juicy it was, some of the juice trickling down her chin and she wiped it away with her hand. The tomato plants had exploded and they would have more than enough to get them through the rest of the summer and the winter, too. All of the vegetables were doing well as were the strawberry plants and the flowers. Sometimes, Beth felt so overwhelmed at everything she and Daryl had for themselves here, she felt like crying.

It was just all so good and most days, she only thought of herself and Daryl and no one else. No one else mattered except them.

"Need help?" Daryl asked gruffly from behind her, startling her, and she spun around to see him standing there, looking uncertain with himself, not sure if he should be there.

Beth nodded, reminding herself that she was angry with him and he still hadn't apologized for his behavior earlier. She knew that he hadn't meant it but he couldn't think that he could just say whatever he wanted without consequences. She didn't care that he looked like a little lost puppy right now. He had to say he was sorry and she was going to keep herself angry towards him until he did.

"I'm picking tomatoes and a cucumber for dinner. I figured we'd have it with the greens I picked yesterday," she said. "Could you pick some of the strawberries?"

He nodded and she watched for a moment as he went to the strawberry plants, looking over each piece of fruit, just like she had taught him, choosing ones that were ripe. She then went back to looking over the cucumbers, picking one that was ready to be picked.

The thunder rumbled and it was getting windier and Beth was relieved they had gotten back home before the storm hit. She took another bite of her tomato and then straightened, turning her head towards Daryl, seeing that he was already looking at her. She took a step towards him and held the tomato out in an offering.

"Do you want the rest?" She asked.

She gasped as Daryl's hand shot out and his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrist, tugging her towards him, their vegetables falling to the ground. And as she fell into his chest, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly – as tightly as he probably could. Beth's nose was pressed into his chest and she turned her head so she'd be able to breathe and Daryl dropped his head down, pressing his face to the crook of her neck where it met her shoulder.

"'m sorry," he said, his words mumbled against her shirt but she heard him perfectly. She slowly lifted her arms and slid them around his waist. "'m so sorry," he said, squeezing his arms and she knew it should have hurt but for some reason, it didn't.

He lifted his head so he could look into her face.

"'ve killed for you and I'd do it again. Don't think I won't," he said. "I'd do anythin' for you, Beth."

He spoke quickly and rushed, as if he needed to for her to believe him. Beth looked up at him and she admitted to herself that she hadn't really been expecting him to apologize. But not only was he apologizing right now, he just looked so torn up about this; as if she could doubt how much he truly meant this by looking into his face.

She swallowed and then nodded. "I know you would, Daryl," she said softly. "You _have_."

"I just don't want anythin' to happen to you," he continued as if she hadn't said anything. "I know you're strong and brave and you can handle yourself. But I don't know what I'd do without you and I jus' always gotta keep you safe."

"You do," she said and she moved her arms from around him so she could put her hands on his cheeks, keeping their eyes locked together. "And I don't know either what I'd do if anything happened to you. I have to keep you safe, too, Daryl."

He shook his head then as if he didn't want her to do that but Beth's hands tightened slightly on his cheeks, keeping her eyes locked with him.

"This is you and me, Daryl," Beth told him. "No one else. Just you and me. We have to trust each other to keep each other safe."

Daryl stared at her and she wasn't sure if he was done talking or not. Maybe he was simply talked out and if he was, that was okay. He had apologized and had meant it and that was all she had wanted from him.

But then he did speak again. "I don't trust no one but you," he said and she didn't even know she needed to hear that until he actually said those words and she felt a wave of relief wash over her. She knew Daryl trusted her but to actually hear him tell her that he did, it was the only thing she needed to hear; more than he was sorry or that he loved her – both wonderful things to hear but knowing that he trusted her, it almost made her want to cry with her happiness.

She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. And Daryl kissed her back immediately, one arm staying strong around her waist and his other hand lifted to the back of her head. And just as he held her too tightly, he kissed her too hard but Beth didn't care. She kissed him back with equal fervor and she pressed her body to his and as she felt the first drops of rain hit her cheeks, Daryl suddenly swung her up in his arms and she shrieked with laughter and he smiled.

The clouds broke just as he carried her into the house and she couldn't stop laughing, breathless by the time he dropped her onto the bed in their bedroom. He left for a second and she knew that he was getting Jack in the house, closing and locking the door and shoving the table in front of it.

When he came back into the bedroom, she was sitting up in bed, her shirt already gone and she was working on her jeans. Even though it was summer and the air was so heavy with the heat and humidity, they still wore jeans. Shorts were just too dangerous – having that much exposed skin.

She gave him a smile, her stomach fluttering with anticipation, and Daryl crossed to the bed, tugging his own tee-shirt off over his head. Sometimes, just the sheer size of him made her want to squirm.

"I need to drink some Queen Anne's Lace," Beth said and tried to get up from the bed.

"Nah," Daryl shook his head and he leaned into her then, his hands holding her hips, keeping her right where she was. "Not yet. Wanna do somethin' first."

She then watched as he sank down on his knees next to the bed and she knew instantly exactly what he wanted to do and her heart began speeding up.

He paused, his fingers still curled around her hips. "I ain't never done this before so I don't… don't really know what I'm doin'."

Beth just smiled and shook her head and he leaned in then, pressing a kiss to her stomach. Her fingers raked through his hair.

"I love 'ya, Beth," Daryl then murmured against her skin and Beth sank backwards onto her back, closed her eyes and exhaled a sigh with a smile.

xxx

Laundry day. Beth gathered the washboard, scrub brush and one of the little boxes with the Tide powder and Daryl carried the laundry basket with their bed sheets and some of their clothes – mostly underwear and socks. They left the house and headed towards the creek in the woods, Jack trotting after them. It was a beautiful summer day – the sky a powder blue with not a cloud in sight and a heavy warm breeze blowing. Beth figured it was about late July now – just about August. The humidity made her think of July.

At the creek, she knelt down on the bank and situated her washboard against a rock. Jack took his place beside her, watching the water, not moving a muscle as he kept himself on the lookout for any fish he could catch for them to have for dinner that night. And Daryl lowered himself onto his knees next to her, taking a pillowcase from the basket. Beth watched him with a smile as he dunked it into the water, soaking it through and then handed it to her.

"Thought you were going to hunt?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Figured with Jack fishin', don't need meat and fish in the same day."

She laughed softly at that and he tore the box open for her, handing it to her. She sprinkled a bit of the powder on the case and the brush and then began scrubbing it, rubbing it up and down the washboard. She always missed her mom's washing machine on laundry day and was just another of countless things that she had taken for granted. It was her second laundry day using the washboard and though she was glad to have it and it made her feel better, scrubbing their clothes on it rather than a rock, by the end of the day, she hated it; her knuckles always red and raw.

But wearing clean clothes and sleeping on clean sheets and being clean herself was just one of those things that made her feel more like a person and getting red and raw knuckles to achieve it was worth it, in her opinion.

She handed Daryl the scrub brush and he took it, taking the other pillowcase and holding it against a rock, he began to scrub thoroughly at it and Beth did her best to not watch and get distracted at the way his biceps flexed with the chore.

Jack suddenly let out a low growl and Beth looked to him to see that the fox had grown stiff, his fur noticeable standing on end, his body hunched low to the ground as if in an attack position. Daryl instantly grabbed his crossbow and got to his feet, looking in the direction of where the fox was staring. Beth stood up beside him, her fingers going to the knife at her side, curling around the hilt.

"What is it?" She asked softly.

Daryl shook his head, listening closely, and Jack let out another low growl. And then, he jumped over the creek and tore off through the trees.

"Jack!" Daryl called out after him and that's when Beth heard the roar of an animal. She gasped. The grizzly bear. "Shit," Daryl swore and jumping over the creek, he ran off after their fox, and Beth didn't hesitate in running after them both.

Bursting through the trees, coming upon the scene, it took her less than a second to see what was happening. Walkers – seven of them, she quickly counted, were trying to swarm the bear but the bear was putting up a fight, slashing at them with his claws, knocking them away. But the walkers kept getting up and coming towards the animal. Daryl fired his crossbow, hitting a walker in the head just as it was about to claw at the bear. The bear roared and took another swipe at a walker, knocking it down, and Beth ran to it, sinking her knife into its skull. She could hear Jack, growling and snarling and fighting something but whether it was with a walker or with the bear, Beth couldn't see.

The bear was roaring loudly, swiping at the walkers, and Daryl and Beth took them out together, both using their knives, the three – two humans and a bear – working together to take care of them. And once all of the walkers were dead, lying around the area on the forest floor, the air was quiet again. Beth's heart was racing and she was trying to catch her breath and she found herself face to face with the brown grizzly bear.

She was completely frozen as she stared into the animal's black eyes as he stared at her. Daryl had told her all about bears. How they were one of the few animals to truly scare him and if they scared Daryl, then Beth knew she should be absolutely terrified to be this close to one, to have one staring right at her, and she was. She felt Daryl stand behind her though for once, not even his presence brought her comfort for she knew that their knives and his crossbow wouldn't be able to do much damage if the bear wanted to turn his claws from the walkers onto them now.

Time seemed to stop completely and Beth wondered if this was how it was going to end. To come this far and to then get mauled to death by a grizzly bear. Beth almost wanted to shout at it. We helped you! You can't just kill us! But she didn't make a sound. She didn't move a muscle. She realized she was acting as if she was in _Jurassic Park_ and treating this grizzly bear now like a T-Rex. If she didn't move, it couldn't see her.

But she knew the bear could see her. And quite clearly.

She sucked in her stomach and held her breath as the bear lowered his head, placing his snout near her boots. He took a whiff and let out a snort of air as he inhaled her scent. She clenched her eyes shut as the bear then moved his snout up her legs, stopping at her knees. She felt like she was going to be sick and even after everything – the walkers and running from the farm and running around for a winter and the prison and the Governor… she had never quite been this scared before. She was completely paralyzed.

The bear let out another snort and then… nothing happened.

Beth opened her eyes to see that the bear was turning itself around and he began to lumber away from them, heading off into the trees again. And it took another second for Beth to start breathing again. She looked over her shoulder, back at Daryl standing behind her, and it seemed as if he hadn't been and was now breathing again himself.

"I think he was just checking to see we weren't walkers, too," she said.

"He could have just said 'you're welcome' without scarin' the shit out of us," he grumbled and she laughed slightly, now able to laugh and get herself to relax a little.

Something then occurred to her and her worry sprang back. "Where's Jack?" She asked and she turned around, her eyes wildly searching the area for their little red animal. "Jack?" She called out – not too loudly but loud enough for the fox able to hear her.

Daryl had his crossbow in his hands and he stepped away, walking slowly, looking for the animal, and Beth looked in the other direction, her eyes scanning for the fox, her heart lodged in her throat. After all of this time, had he run away? Daryl had warned her that this might happen. Jack was a wild animal and he might have lived with them for months but wild animals just couldn't be domesticated if they didn't want to be.

"Jack!" She called out again and from the corner of her eye, she saw Daryl stop.

She spun towards him and he was staring at something down on the ground. Something red. And then he slowly sank down onto his knees.

"No," she breathed the word and came running, jumping over a walker's body to get to them faster. And as soon as she did, she fell to her knees beside Daryl and saw Jack. He was still breathing but it was fast and shallow, as if even breathing was hurting him.

Tears stung her eyes as she gently ran her hands down the animal's broken body. She had no idea what had happened to him but whatever it was, Jack was dying.

"No, Jack," she shook her head furiously. "No."

Daryl's hand then went to the side of the fox's body, resting gently over his heart, feeling the rapid pace in which it was beating. And then, his breathing began to slow.

Beth tried so hard not to anymore. She was strong and she had been able to survive through so much. She hated when she did. But looking down at Jack, she couldn't stop herself. Looking down at Jack, Beth burst into tears.

xxx

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please comment!**


	24. Chapter 24

**One more chapter to go and I really love this story just because it's Daryl and Beth, making their own family (I've had so many mixed feelings in regards to the characters on the show lately), and I _really_ love writing this little world they've created and the images it gives me.**

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xxx

 **Chapter Twenty-Four.**

Daryl was brought slowly out of sleep and he opened his eyes, blinking them a couple of times to get them focused. The room was lighter than it usually was when he woke up and he was in bed alone. He reached a hand out and felt the empty space beside him. It was cold and he wondered when she had gotten up and why he hadn't heard her.

With his head still on the pillow, Daryl turned and looked to the window, seeing that a light snow was falling. It had begun snowing the night before and he wondered if it had stopped at all during the night. And then, he heard soft music wafting into the bedroom from the kitchen and he laid there, listening for a moment, able to recognize the piece and know that Beth was listening to her Beethoven record this morning.

He pulled himself out of bed and stretched his muscles with a grunt. He then made the bed, pulling the sheets and comforter and the two quilts they slept with every night back up the mattress and making everything neat again. He then went to the chest at the foot of the bed where they kept all their clothes and he tugged on a clean pair of socks, his jeans, a tee-shirt, a flannel shirt and then the hooded sweatshirt he found last winter and he never used to wear hoodies but he admitted they were good in the winter – especially when it was snowing and he wanted to keep his head warm.

When he stepped from the bedroom into the kitchen, his eyes fell immediately on Beth. She was standing at the counter, crushing something with her pestle in her mortar, humming to the Beethoven playing from the record player on the counter.

He stood there in the bedroom doorway, watching her for a passing minute or so. The night before, she had said that she was pretty sure she was nineteen now. Maybe twenty? She had been eighteen in the prison and then nineteen when they had been running and her birthday had been as fall slipped into winter. She wasn't sure though and they both knew things like age didn't matter anymore anyway.

This morning, she wore jeans that hugged her legs and a gray wool sweater that was too big on her, the collar slipping and showing the purple shirt she wore beneath it, and she had rolled the sleeves and had pushed them to her elbows so they wouldn't constantly slip down past her hands as she worked.

Today was their four hundred and nineteenth day together. An entire year of being together. An entire year since the Governor and the prison and her dad… running off and never seeing their family again. He knew both went weeks now without thinking of any of them. After four hundredth and nineteen days together, they were one another's family now.

"Stop being creepy," she then said suddenly and he smirked a little. She looked over her shoulder back at him, giving him a smile, and he came towards her.

On the counter, he saw that she was mixing flour, water and cornmeal together and in her mortar, she was crushing up a bit of lavender. A couple of runs ago, finding a few houses further out, they had found a large bag of chocolate chips, and this morning, Beth was mixing in a portion of the chocolate chips as well. She sprinkled the crushed lavender in and then taking her wooden spoon, she began mixing it all together.

He would offer to help her but last time he had tried to help her with the corn cakes, he had burned most of them, making them practically inedible, and she had laughed, kissing him and telling him that he was lucky he was so cute. Instead, this morning, he went to the back door, looking out over the snow that was covering everything. They had their buckets out, collecting snow so it could be brought in to melt it down, and the fence was still good and strong. The moat would fill with snow, making their position easier to get to but he wasn't going to worry about that right now.

It was silent out as it always seemed to be when it snowed and with all of the leaves gone, he could see a walker off in the woods, rambling through the trees, not even glancing in the direction of their home. In the corner of their yard, beneath the cherry tree, was a wooden cross with Jack carved into it, a heart carved beneath that. They had both been so happy and had almost forgotten the world they truly lived in. Jack dying had crushed them both, hating the cruel way in which the world decided to remind them of how it was now and they could never forget it.

He went to the couch and tugged on his boots, lacing them up tight, and then grabbed his coat from where it hung in the laundry room. Winter had come upon them fast. It seemed as if one day, they were sweating and the next, they were shivering. But they were ready. They had harvested their garden and canned their crops and the jars now lined the shelves in the pantry. Beth had picked all of the flowers and they now hung upside down from the shower rod in the bathroom in bundles, dried and ready for use. And they had taken the corn and dried it out and first put the cobs through the sheller and then the grinder, giving them enough cornmeal to last them for the winter.

He had chopped plenty of wood for the fireplace and they were dry and warm and had food to fill their bellies. Daryl couldn't ask for much more than that.

"I'll be back," he said, swinging his crossbow onto his shoulder and heading for the back door. Beth's hands were dusted with flour now as she began forming the corn cakes, placing them into the iron skillet. She nodded and smiled and she had gotten a bit of flour on her chin. Daryl smiled, too.

Some days, he had a hard time believing that all of this was real.

He went into the outhouse first, taking care of business, and then stepped out again the walk the yard. The snow was falling lightly but steadily, giving the ground a couple of inches. It was incredible to him that Georgia was getting snow like this. Seemed like the planet didn't have to worry about global warming anymore. Beth had joked that maybe, they were heading for another ice age.

In front of the house, a walker had wandered into the cul-de-sac and it let out a snarl the instant it saw Daryl, rambling his way. Daryl didn't fire at it with his crossbow, not wanting to go out there to collect his bolt, and instead, he waited for the walker to come to him. And when it did, he sank his knife into its skull. He waited another moment, but the neighborhood was quiet again. He didn't know if it would always be quiet like this. All he could do was hope it would be. If a herd moved past, hopefully, he and Beth would be able to get out and get to their storm shelter in time. They had food and water down there and a blanket and a lantern and they could wait it out if they had to. After the prison and stupidly having no escape for any of them, they weren't making that mistake again with this place.

Either he and Beth would get out together or they would escape together. They were never going to get separated. There were no other options other than those two.

Some of the buckets were getting full and Daryl carried two back into the house. He went into the bathtub in the master bathroom, dumping the snow out, letting it melt, before carrying the buckets back outside to fill up once again.

In the family room, Beth was in front of fire, cooking their corn cakes, watching them and flipping them over carefully when it was time to. They had grown enough corn and ground enough of it down into corn meal it have a corn cake each every morning. It would see them through the cold months with no problem. Some mornings, Beth mixed in lavender or a bit of their chocolate stash or mixed nutmeg in. She liked experimenting with all of their food and spices and finding out what tasted the best and what they liked the best. The world may have ended but a person would never know it walking into their house.

"They're done," Beth said with a smile and Daryl went to go and get their two plates and forks. He came to the fireplace and Beth slid each of the cakes onto the plates. Daryl went to go take off his boots and coat and then came to sit down with her on the floor in front of the fire, feeling the flames warm his cold hands and face.

He tried to eat slow, always wanting to make the corn cake last as long as he could, but they were always so damn good, he was always done with it in four bites or less. Beth laughed a little as he placed his empty plate next to him and she took much smaller bites, able to savor hers for a bit longer.

"If we can manage it, we should try going back to the farm when it's warm again," she said in between bites.

"What for?" Daryl asked, leaning back against the couch, watching her.

She shrugged. "I don't know if anything's still there or if the house is even still standing but… we had canned goods stored in the cellar and daddy had seeds in the barn. Not the one that burned down. The other barn. I'm sure other people have already found everything but…" She looked at him. "What do you think?"

He shrugged his own shoulders. "Doesn' sound like a bad plan." He looked at her. "You sure 'bout seein' it again?"

"Of course," she said and there was no reason for Daryl to doubt her. "It was my home but… this is my home now. The farm sometimes feels as if it was like another life."

Daryl nodded but didn't say anything to that. He wasn't able to. He and Beth couldn't have grown in two more different ways. The prison was really the first home he had ever had in his life and now this place with Beth… nothing would ever be able to be better than this home he had with Beth. He couldn't imagine there ever being a place out there that was better than this.

Beth finished her corn cake and set her empty plate on top of his and then came to sit beside him, resting her back against the couch behind them and her head on his shoulder. They watched the dancing flames for a few quiet minutes and his hand slid over her thigh, resting it comfortably there.

"I need to start on dinner," she then said, lifting her head.

"Already?" He asked with a slight frown. He wasn't one to be lazy and just sit around. There was plenty to do – even in the winter – but he wanted this quiet morning with Beth to last a little longer.

She smiled. "I'm going to be making potato and carrot soup and I need the vegetables to simmer long enough for their flavor to seep into the water," she explained.

The mysterious green sprouts that had been growing in their garden, they discovered, had been carrots and along with the canned carrots they had found in the storm shelter and the seeds Daryl had found in the antiques store, they would have plenty of carrots to eat and grow in the spring. It only made him miss Jack more than he already did though. That fox would have protected their garden from any curious rabbit or animal that found its way into their yard.

"And then, in honor of our four hundred and nineteenth day, I'm making dessert tonight," she said and she said it with a beaming smile; a smile that always got Daryl to smile, too.

He didn't ask what she was going to make because he knew that she wouldn't tell him. Beth liked giving him little surprises. Like when she found them a jar of honey during one of their runs. Or when she had found herself a new bra and he didn't know about it until he took her shirt off that night. Or when she found that tin container of ground coffee and they were able to have cups of coffee – black for him and sugar in hers.

Beth surprised him nearly every damn day and he knew dessert tonight would be no exception. He just smirked a little and nodded.

"Need my help for anythin'?" He asked, his hand reluctant to leave her thigh.

"Nope," she shook her head with a smile. "What are you going to do today?" She asked.

"Figured I'd go through some houses today," he said.

"We've been through them a dozen times," she pointed out to him as if he didn't know.

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, now it's time to start rippin' 'em apart."

Beth was curious – he could tell – but she didn't ask. Instead, she just laughed a little and leaned in, giving him a too-quick kiss on the lips. "Well, have fun," she said, still smiling, and Daryl smirked a little in return.

They cleaned up from breakfast and as Beth stood at the counter once more, cleaning up the flour on the counter, Daryl sat down on the couch, pulling on and tying up his boots again. She had the heavy iron pot and brushed the flour from the counter into it and then added water. She then went to the pantry for a jar of potatoes and another jar of carrots. She then got the salt and pepper and she began preparing the soup for dinner. Daryl stood up, putting his coat back on, and he came to stand on the other side of the counter, watching her for a moment, listening to her hum as she worked.

And then she began to sing.

" _One morning, one morning,_

 _one morning in May._

 _I overheard a married man to a young girl say._

 _Go dress you up pretty Katie,  
And come along with me,  
Across the blue mountains,  
To the Alleghany."_

He was glad he had found her that record player and those records and Beth loved both so much, she was playing it nearly every day. But the records were all been of classical composers and no singing and sometimes, he really missed listening to her sing.

"You need me to look for anythin' while I'm out there?" He asked once her words had trailed off into humming once more.

Beth thought for a moment as she mixed the flour and water together for it to thicken together over the fire for a more hearty soup that would stick to their bones that night.

She then smiled. "Surprise me," she said and Daryl hated when she said that.

Too much damn pressure to try and bring her back something nice that she'd like even though, in the back of his mind, Daryl knew Beth really wouldn't care what he brought back with him and presented to her. He was the one who always racked his brain for something really special.

"I'll be back soon," he said with a nod and as he walked past her on his way to the laundry room, he kissed her on the temple and saw her smiling, and he looked to the two Polaroid pictures she had stuck on the refrigerator – the first picture she had taken of him when they had first found the camera and a picture of him, her, and Jack. A family portrait, Beth had smiled after pressing the button and the flash blinding them.

That picture he had taken of Beth was in his back pocket – where he always kept it.

He left through the laundry room and out the side garage door, locking it securely behind him once again. He knew Beth could handle herself. He didn't doubt that and he wasn't afraid of leaving her alone anymore. He just wished they still had Jack so at least the fox would be able to keep her company while he was gone.

xxx

It was hard to keep track of the time in the winter – especially when it was snowing. The day seemed grey until it went completely black with night and he didn't try to stay gone that long. It was too cold, anyway, to be traipsing around for too long.

He wore the work gloves that had been in the doomsday kit as he worked, protecting his hands from not only the cold but from what he was doing as well. The idea had come to him when he had had a lingering though on the prison and how they had fortified it. Right now, his and Beth's driveway leading to the garage was completely unprotected and it was time they do something about that. It was time to start ripping walls down and taking plaster and pipes from within and anything else that he could bring back to their house and fortify it even more than now.

He also began gathering furniture from the other houses around them that could be burned in their fireplace. He knew, one day, they wouldn't find a single useful thing about these houses anymore and they would start to decay and Daryl almost looked forward to seeing that because that meant that he and Beth were still here.

He started heading back when he was pretty sure it was almost sundown – if the sun was visible that day – his arms loaded with pink insulation taken from the walls of the house next door. There was a lot more and he would take the car tomorrow so he'd be able to load even more of it With the comforter and quilts in their bedroom, and sleeping with one another, they were warm enough but with the fire place in the family room, Daryl was looking to make their bedroom warmer without having to move their mattress to the family room, too. He liked sleeping in a bed in a bedroom with Beth.

Unlocking the garage door and stepping in, locking it immediately behind him again, he headed into the house. It was warm with the fire having been burning endlessly and he could smell the soup simmering over the flames. The record player is off and he can hear the whir of the sewing machine in the front office. Leaving the pink insulation on the floor of the laundry room for the time being, Daryl went to go find her.

From the antiques store, she had found a book of patterns and a basket of sewing thread and as they added a few more clothes to their wardrobe, Beth learned how to mend and repair holes and loose threads and right now, she was sewing a patch in a hole on a pair of Daryl's blue jeans. When Beth heard him, she lifted her head, stopping her foot on the pedal and she smiled.

"Hey, you," she greeted.

"Hey," he greeted back and went to go sit down on the couch. "How'd your day go?"

She smiled as she began pushing the pedal again, the machine whirring to life. "Good. Got dinner almost cooked and dessert, too, and I've gotten most of the mending done. Oh! I made you something!"

With that, she stood up from the desk and hurried from the office and Daryl pulled himself up from the couch to follow her down the hall into the kitchen. She grabbed a cup from the counter and turned towards him, holding it out for him.

"You were complaining about a sore throat yesterday," she reminded him. "I made a ginger and lemon juice mixture for you. It's supposed to help."

Daryl didn't question it and he didn't make a face at how it smelled. Beth was the doctor and if she said this would help, he'd trust her. He only made a face once he tilted his head back and downed the entire concoction. He was pretty sure his throat was sore just because he had slept with his mouth open but better safe than sorry.

"And how was your day?" Beth asked, taking the cup back from him.

"Good. Got us some insulation to start lining the bedroom walls. Help us keep some of that cold out," he said. "And in the summer, we can jus' take it down again."

Beth beamed at that. "That's the best surprise," she smiled and Daryl felt the tips of his ears turn red at her compliment. "You hungry?"

"Starved," he said because even though the corn cake was so damn good and he had been munching on cinnamon bark throughout the day that he kept in his pocket, working and scavenging always built up his appetite.

Sitting down on the floor in front of the fire, Beth stirred the soup in the pot a few times and then gave them each a hearty helping. The soup was so good and filling, Daryl wound up having three bowls and Beth had two and there was still some leftover so they left it simmering near the fire for them to have the rest of it tomorrow. For dessert, in one of the iron skillets sitting at the base of the fire rather than over it, Beth had cut peaches in half and roasted them with cinnamon and honey. They had found a peach tree near one of the houses further out and Beth had taken as many peaches as they could pack into the car. Daryl had forgotten all about Georgia being the peach state.

"Good?" Beth asked as he nearly shoved an entire peach half into his mouth.

"Damn good," he grunted through his mouthful and it was Beth's turn to blush now.

"Happy four hundred and nineteen day," she said with a smile across her lips and playfully bumped her plate against his as if making a cheers toast.

And Daryl bumped his plate back. "Here's to four hundred and nineteen more."

After dinner, especially in the winter months when it got so dark so early, they played games of checkers and read books out loud. They had read all of their Susanna Kearsley books and even though Daryl wouldn't mind reading them through for a second time, especially MacPherson and Mary's story again, Beth suggested they read a few other books they hadn't read before going back and reading through hers again.

Right now, they were reading something called _Out of the Easy_ and Daryl thought it was a good book. Just too depressing. But he liked sitting there and listening to Beth read.

"Does he kiss you right?" I stopped and turned to him. "Excuse me?" He gave me a smug smile. "That means no." "And what about you? I'm sure you have lots of girlfriends." "I'm not lonely. I don't have a girlfriend, though." Jesse took a swig from his bottle and leaned back on the steps. "That night at Dewey's, you said you were meeting your guy. I followed you. It was dark, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. You went all the way down to the river. He stood you up." Jesse had followed me the night I took the watch to the river. "No, I-" "Yeah, Jo, he never showed, and you started crying. And I stood there thinking, 'Man, this guy is so stupid.' So whatever upset you in that letter from him, just forget about it."

Beth paused to take a sip of water. "So, who do you think?" She asked, looking at him and it looked as if her eyes were twinkling as she smiled.

Daryl thought it over for a moment. "Thinkin' she's gonna be with Jesse at the end."

"Not Patrick?" Beth seemed a little surprised he hadn't chosen the other guy.

Daryl shrugged. "Patrick's too much like her. She'd be bored with him inside a month. She needs someone like Jesse. He's different than her but the same, too. You know?"

He had no idea what the hell he was saying. It all made sense in his head but sometimes, when he went to talk and explain things to Beth, Daryl was pretty certain he didn't make a lick of sense.

But he looked over to Beth now and she was smiling and he wondered when he would finally learn that with Beth, she always seemed to know exactly what he meant.

xxx

And then, nearly every night, after the house was locked and bolted up tight, they went to bed and they made love. Daryl never said it out loud and he knew that if Merle could hear him, his older brother would burst out with laughter and call Daryl a few choice words but what he did with Beth, Daryl knew that that was the only thing it could be called. It had never been _just sex_ with this girl.

She had plucked as much Queen Anne's Lace as she could and hung it from the shower bar in bouquets, drying them out, and she drank some before and drank some after and so far, it seemed to be working. Daryl didn't even want to think of what they would do if it didn't and they were faced with the consequences. He never thought of Lil' Asskicker anymore but he had loved that little baby so much. He just didn't want to bring another one into this world. He thought of her sometimes and he thought of Jack and little things like that just weren't meant to make it in this world anymore.

He rocked on top of her slowly, feeling her inner thighs rub against his hips as their bodies moved together in a rhythm that they had finally perfected after plenty of practice. And he felt her hands on his back and she exhaled warm breathes in his ear, arching her back and moaning his name. And when she came, her body stiffened beneath his and her nails dug into his back and he covered his mouth with hers.

And even though she took Queen Anne's Lace and he stayed inside of her sometimes, other times, he pulled himself out and he came all over her stomach. They laid there in the minutes afterwards, sweating and trying to catch their breaths, and he leaned in to kiss her softly, he could feel her lips tremble against his and he smiled a little against hers. Beth let out a pleasant-sounding sigh and lifted her hands, brushing hair back from his face and Daryl leaned down, affectionately brushing his nose against hers.

They laid there and listened to one another breathing and the quiet of the night. It had stopped snowing but winter nights brought their own sense of quiet with them.

But then he heard it and his entire body stiffened. He strained his ears, trying to listen to see if he had just been mistaken but no. There it was. And it was getting closer. He looked down to Beth and knew that she had heard it, too, because her eyes were slightly widened as she looked up at him.

A car.

And it was getting closer.

xxx

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!  
**


	25. Chapter 25

**Thank you so much to all of those who showed such support, love and encouragement for this story. And with that, I end another Daryl/Beth story.**

* * *

xxx

 **Chapter Twenty-Five.**

They brought back with them a goat and a little girl and Eric wasn't there.

The goat belonged to Rosita's uncle – the only member of her family still alive back in Texas. But he had gotten bit during a run for supplies and he forced his niece and the others away from him before he could turn, making them take the goat as they left.

And the little girl had been holed up in a supply closet in a boarded up gas station and none of them knew how she had survived. She was about six and her dad's dead body was just a few feet away from her, along with the walker that had attacked them. The dad had killed the walker and then himself, leaving the little girl to fend on her own.

The girl's name was Anna and she didn't talk that much and they could only just imagine what she had been through and what she had seen.

Beth hugged them all tightly – Rosita, Spencer and Aaron – and she didn't ask about Eric because she could see how distant and empty Aaron's eyes were and she hugged him for the longest because she could only just assume and he hugged her tightly in return, hanging on, almost as if he didn't want to let go. And Beth didn't mind.

"You must all be so hungry," she said. "And tired," she then added, looking to all of them. Anna was behind them all, standing near the door, her hands holding the rope around the goat's neck and the little girl looking down to the ground.

She couldn't help but think of Judith as she looked at the little girl. Was Judith still alive? Was she somewhere safe? How big was she now?

But then Beth shook those thoughts from her head. She and Daryl didn't think about their old family anymore. There was no point to it. Either they were out there or they weren't and they clearly had all moved on. Daryl was her family now and considering they were back now, maybe Rosita, Aaron and Spencer would be her family, too.

She didn't ask them about Texas or why they were back and they noticed Jack's absence but thankfully, they didn't ask about him. Beth didn't know if she could tell them without wanting to cry. Every time she looked at Jack's grave marker under the cherry tree in the backyard for too long, tears still flooded her eyes. She missed that fox every single day and she wondered how long it would be before she moved on from her grief. It had taken time with her mom, brother, daddy and Maggie. It would take time with Jack, too.

"We brought supplies back with us," Spencer said and he looked stronger than he did when they had first been here.

"We'll unpack it in the mornin'," Daryl said. "'m gonna open up the garage and you pull in next to the Buick," he told Spencer and Spencer nodded and they went back outside.

"Come on," Beth smiled at the others. "Let's get you to the fire and Daryl and I had soup tonight and we have leftovers. I'll get you bowls."

As Aaron and Rosita moved into the family room, going towards the fire and taking off their boots and coats and outer-winter wear, Anna didn't move from the back door and Beth went to her slowly, approaching her like she would a startled animal. She knelt down in front of her and gave her a smile. The little girl was dirty and skinny - greasy blonde hair and all knees and elbows - and it looked as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Hi, Anna. I'm Beth," she said in a gentle voice. "And the other man is Daryl. We live here and you're going to be staying with us now."

At least, that was what she assumed. She couldn't imagine them leaving again. Especially since Texas seemed to not have worked out for them and Rosita seemed dead set against of going north. And Beth hoped that they would stay. She liked them and trusted them and she and Daryl had their own little world here. They could share that.

"Would you like something to eat?" She asked.

Anna didn't say anything. She just kept staring down to the floor.

"It's a potato and carrot soup. Do you like potatoes and carrots?" She asked. Again, nothing. Beth tried a different approach. "I really like your goat. What's her name?"

Finally. "Lucky," Anna said in a quiet voice, as if she was afraid to speak much louder than that. Beth wondered how long she had been in that supply closet, alone. Beth wondered how this little girl had been able to survive that or how Rosita and the others had managed to coax her to come with them.

Beth saw the goat's udders and she began to think of things she would be able to prepare with goat's milk. She smiled faintly at the little girl. "She certainly is," she agreed and then reached out, rubbing a hand on the goat's head. "Anna, would you like some chocolate?" She then asked and she smiled at Anna looked at her as if she could hardly believe that Beth had just asked her that.

Beth stood up and went into the kitchen, getting four bowls and spoons and then went to the pantry, taking out one of the Hershey bars. She broke off one square and as she passed Anna, she handed it out to her and the girl took it, instantly popping it into her mouth as if she was afraid that Beth would take it back from her.

Aaron and Rosita were sitting in front of the fire and Beth sat with them, spooning out the soup still in the kettle next to the fire into the four bowls.

"Thank God for you and Daryl," Rosita said, taking her bowl. "Texas was good for a while. And then it wasn't," she said and that was all she said on the matter.

Aaron didn't speak but he gave Beth a nod of thanks as he took his own bowl of soup.

From the corner of her eye, Beth saw Anna slowly come closer to the fire and Beth didn't say anything but she smiled and held out the bowl of soup for her to take. And Anna did, going to sit a little bit away from them, still holding onto Lucky's rope. She sat on the floor and began eating her soup with one hand.

Daryl and Spencer came back in from the laundry room and took off their boots and coats, coming towards the other at the fire. Beth handed Spencer the last bowl and they sat down, Daryl sitting next to Beth, looking at the girl and the goat and then the others.

"You stayin'?" Daryl asked, directing the question to Rosita, and she paused, swallowing the chunk of potato she had been eating.

She nodded. "If you'll have us."

"You gotta truck now," he then stated. "That's good."

"Are you going on a run? Do you go on runs?" Spencer asked and Daryl gave a nod.

"Haven't in a few weeks. Haven't had a need to." His eyes glanced over to Anna before back to them. "But prob'ly should now. Pick up a few things. Whatever we can find." Except for the toys still left in their basement, they didn't have things for a small child.

"We brought all of the food my uncle had – cans and junk food – and we have a few random supplies, too," Rosita said.

"We'll go through it tomorrow. Sort it out and see what we have," Beth said. "And then we'll figure out what we need more of."

"Is this going to screw things up for you?" Spencer asked, not eating his soup, rather looking to Daryl and Beth, as if waiting for permission to eat it.

He had changed, Beth noted. Not just in strength but he looked older now. He certainly wasn't such a stranger to this world now and she wondered what had happened to them, and what happened to Eric, but she wouldn't pry. Not until one of them wanted to talk about it.

Beth shook her head with a smile. "We'll be alright. I promise," she assured them. "I just need to sit down and plan a few things out." She'd do that in the morning though. Between making love with Daryl earlier and now, welcoming their friends back, it was late now and it was beginning to catch up with her.

And Daryl must have been reading her mind because she felt his hand, warm and heavy on the small of her back. "Sleepin' arrangements. How do you want to do 'em?" He asked all of them, giving a glance towards Anna again. Beth knew that he was probably thinking about Judith, too. It was hard to look at the little girl and not think of Judith.

Spencer was the one to answer. "Rosita and Anna take the pullout bed in the office. Aaron takes his old room. And I'll stay out here," he decided and Rosita nodded.

"The goat sleepin' in here or the garage?" Daryl asked, looking to Anna and Lucky and Anna didn't answer but they all saw the girl's fingers visibly tighten around the rope.

"She can sleep in the office with me and Anna," Rosita said.

After eating their soup, Beth took the bowls and spoons and put them in the bin to wash them in the morning and Daryl lifted the iron kettle onto the table, also to be taken out tomorrow to be washed out. They made sure the doors were locked up tight and everything was secure for the night and they all went their own ways for bed.

In their bedroom, Daryl closed the door and they got undressed again, slipping beneath the comforter and quilts, and Beth rolled towards him. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and both of his arms were wrapped warmly and securely around her body.

"Think we got enough to still get us through winter?" Daryl asked after a few minutes.

"Yes," Beth answered with confidence. "Especially since they brought their own food, too, to add to the pantry. I just have to sit down and figure out our rations again. And I don't think we can have corn cakes every morning anymore."

"Son of a bitch," he grumbled but she heard no anger or malice in his tone and she smiled, closing her eyes, trying to nestle as closely to him as she could. His body was so hard and yet, she found him as comfortable as any bed she had ever slept on.

"That just means we plant more corn in the spring," Beth said with a faint smile and she began to drift off, her thoughts wandering to those of her garden and what would be planted. She already missed being in her garden every day with her fingers in the dirt.

She hoped they all made it through the winter.

xxx

"How the hell you know how to do this?" Daryl asked, leaning against the workbench in the garage, watching her with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Did you forget, Daryl Dixon? You got yourself a farm girl," Beth teased him as she sat on an overturned crate and gently squeezed Lucky's udders, filling a small bucket with milk. She had never really liked goat's milk but that had been when she had had a choice to like it or not. Now, she was pretty sure she had never seen anything more delicious and lip-smacking good than goat's milk.

As they had the first time, Rosita, Spencer and Aaron were still sleeping and Beth figured they'd sleep into the afternoon. Anna had woken up the instant Beth poked her head through the office door to check on them and Lucky had stood up. With a finger to her lips, Beth gestured for Anna to come and to bring Lucky with her.

Anna now sat on the steps that led up into the laundry room, watching Beth and Lucky.

"Do you like goat's milk, Anna?" Beth asked her. Anna nodded and said nothing. "We'll put this out in the snow for a few minutes and get it nice and cold. Just think, Daryl," she then smiled back at him. "A nice glass of cold milk."

"Now, we just have to find us some chickens," he said, remembering the list she had given him and the way she had jotted down _goat_ and _chickens_ as a joke. She could still hardly believe that there was actually a goat here now.

"Here," Beth said once she finished milking and lifted the bucket of milk for Daryl to take. He did and headed out the back door into the backyard. She then turned on the crate to look at Anna. "Do you have to go to the bathroom? It was so late when you got here, I didn't get to show you the outhouse."

Beth stood up and held out her hand and after looking at it for a minute and hesitating for another, Anna then stood up and slid her small hand into Beth's and Beth smiled and squeezed it gently, walking Anna outside. Beth saw the little girl looking at the bare trees and the secured fence and the plowed out space where the garden had been before harvest and canning. It had probably been a long time since the girl had seen a safe, quiet place like this.

She showed Anna the outhouse and then waited for her nearby. She watched Daryl as he walked the back fence. He then came up the side and approached her. She gave him a smile and Daryl's hand slid onto her hip and his lips were cold against her forehead as he kissed her there but she didn't mind.

"Think I'm goin' huntin' today," he said and she nodded. "You want anythin'?"

"Surprise me," she smiled, teasing him because she knew he didn't like when she said that and he smirked a little now and gave his head a shake. He grumbled something she couldn't decipher and it made her laugh.

They heard coughing and they both turned to see Anna come out of the outhouse, the door slapping shut behind her and she was still coughing. For a moment, Beth thought that maybe she was coughing because of the smell – though she didn't think the outhouse smelled _that_ bad compared to other things left in the word – but the more Anna coughed, the more Beth could hear the dampness of it. It was coming from her chest and didn't sound that great.

She looked to Daryl and saw that he was frowning, growing tense, and she knew that he was probably thinking of the prison and all of those sick people that he had to try and save. Beth reached out and squeezed his arm and gave him a comforting smile.

"Come on, Anna," she said. "I know what to give you that will make you feel better."

In the kitchen, Beth saw that Spencer was awake now, sitting up on the couch, yawning, and Daryl, after setting the bucket of milk down, went to go toss another log onto the fire. Beth went into the living room, sensing that Anna was following her, hesitantly but obviously curious. Beth went to the front windowsill where she was growing several things in plastic flowerpots that she had found in the garage from the house across the street.

She began humming as she went to one of the green plants, gently plucking a few leaves. There was thyme and rosemary and basil, peppermint and sage. She then went back into the kitchen, Anna following behind her once again. She went into the bathroom, taking a cup and filling it with a bit of water from their supply in the bathtub. She then took it back out to the fireplace in the family room and held it out for Spencer to take.

"Hold that over the flames until it's boiling," she said and he nodded without question, moving closer to the hearth.

Anna began coughing again and Beth went into the kitchen, taking her small strainer from the sink where she always had it. She looked at Anna standing on the other side of the counter, peering over with just her eyes and top of her head visible, watching her, and Beth smiled at her. Spencer brought the cup of boiling water and set it down on the counter in front of Beth. She looked up and saw Spencer and Daryl now watching her, too, and she almost wanted to laugh with the audience. Putting the thyme leaves in the strainer, she took another cup and then slowly, poured the boiling water through the strainer and the thyme leaves.

"It's not the best way to infuse but it's really the best I can do," she said and set the cup down in front of Anna. "There you go. It will help with your cold. We'll give it to you twice a day," she explained and then looked to Daryl. "Maybe they have a tea pot that will be better for infusing at the antiques store."

"You tell me what you need, I'll find it," Daryl said without hesitancy.

They all watched as Anna held the cup with both hands and looked down at the drink for a moment.

"Don't forget to blow on it. You'll burn your tongue off," Daryl told her and Anna blew light breaths onto the water and Beth smiled as she then tilted her head back and took a sip.

Once the cup was empty, she placed it back onto the counter. "Thank you," she said softly, looking back to Beth, and Beth gave her a smile.

"You're welcome. I can teach you all about herbs and flowers if you want me to," Beth then offered to her, thinking that it wouldn't be a bad thing to teach this girl anything that might make her survival a little easier and her mind went to thoughts of Jack and Judith. Little things couldn't make it in this world anymore and Beth had just met Anna but she already couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to this little girl.

And when Anna nodded in agreement, Beth felt both relieved and happy and she immediately began thinking of all of the things she could possibly show her.

xxx

Winter passed and after more planning and adjusting rations, the six – plus a goat – made through it without losing too much weight. Each day, Daryl went hunting and tried to find them fresh meat to eat and he and one of the others would go out on a run once a week, trying to find more things to bring back. Clothes for Anna, clothes for all of them, a tea-pot, buckets, food if possible, books, more records, blankets, more gardening tools and spools of thread for the sewing machine and yarn for knitting. Anything really that they thought could be of any use to any of them.

There was talk about clearing out the house on either side of Beth and Daryl to give them more space but Daryl was the one to turn that idea down. He and Beth had worked hard on this fence and this house had the moat dug around it. It may have been a small house but there was enough room for all of them and too big of a place would be too hard to defend and keep safe. They all knew that from personal experience.

So, they worked on making it a home for all of them. Beth and Daryl stayed in the master bedroom. Aaron slept in the second, smaller bedroom that had been his and Eric's. They cleared out the big desk and couch from the office and turned it into a bedroom for Anna – and Lucky since the goat liked to sleep inside some nights – and they got a bed from another of the houses and Spencer and Rosita slept in the basement. And with the others there to help him, Daryl was able to carry out his plan of adding fortification to the driveway as well so they would be protected at all points.

Spring was slipping into summer and they had all settled into a life with one another. They worked on expanding the garden and it now covered nearly one entire side of the backyard. The wildflowers were in bloom in the front yard again and Lucky spent her days, eating the grass and being chased by Anna if she got too close to their vegetables.

"And what's that one mean?" Anna asked as she worked with Beth and Rosita in the front yard as they plucked lavender and Queen Anne's Lace as well as some marigold.

Anna had slowly become a diligent student of Beth, wanting to learn everything Beth knew and asked no less than thirty questions a day. Beth had gained a shadow in the form of the little girl but Beth didn't mind in the least. Anne felt safe here and this was her home now and Beth was eager to teach her everything she knew. Beth felt _important_ that someone would want to learn what she knew.

Even caring for Judith and the other children and being on fence duty in the prison, she had never felt that important. It was only after fleeing with Daryl and finding this place and making it into a home did she feel like she was doing something that really helped. Yes, taking care of Judith was important to Rick and to everyone and she had loved that little baby so much but she knew she had so much more inside of her than just taking care of a baby. And Daryl had told her more than once since they got here and still told her.

He had no idea what he would do without her and Beth knew that he honestly meant it.

"That's a daffodil and daffodils mean new beginnings," Beth told her but then she gently took her hand and led her away from the bright yellow flowers growing along the fence. Daffodils had always been one of her favorite but she had learned about them. "But there is a poison in the daffodil bulbs and the leaves so you must _never_ eat daffodils. Okay, Anna?" She asked and the girl quickly nodded her head with slightly wide eyes.

Hearing a car approach, she instantly lifted her head, sighing with relief when she saw that it was the pickup truck, Daryl behind the wheel and Aaron in the seat next to him. Spencer had been in the back, patrolling and he came now, opening the large garage door and then going to open the gate and the end of the driveway. A walker rambled too close and he stabbed it through its head as Daryl pulled in.

"Whadja get?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Nothin' for you," Daryl frowned at her but the girl knew he didn't mean it. They all knew it. Daryl was all bark and no bite – at least not towards them – especially when Aaron handed a stuffed floppy-eared dog that they had found for her. Daryl pulled a crate out from the back bed and tilted it towards Beth as she approached him at the back of the truck. "Gotcha some books," he said.

Beth's eyes scanned over the titles and she paused on one, reaching in and taking it out, her hand running over the cover. _Love Letters of the Civil War_. She looked at him and she felt tears in her eyes.

She shook her head and smiled, almost in shock. "I can't believe you remember that."

He shrugged, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal like Daryl always acted but she saw the tips of his ears turn red. "'member pretty much everythin' you've ever said to me."

With the book clutched in her hand, Beth stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him straight on the lips in their driveway. And his hands were on her back but then, he slowly pulled his lips back from hers, looking over her face for a moment, looking for something but what, she had no idea.

Keeping one hand on her back, Daryl then reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling something out. And when he held up the white gold band with the small diamond, she didn't feel exactly surprised and yet, she couldn't quite believe that he had actually done this.

And Daryl seemed to be reading her mind because he shrugged then. "Jus' seemed like it was 'bout time. Don't you think?" He asked her.

And Beth laughed and nodded and felt tears splashing down her cheeks. She looked at him, her smile only growing. "Yeah," she agreed and she kissed him again as he slid the ring onto her finger.

xxx

* * *

 **The End.**

 **Thank you very much for reading and please comment!**


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